Planetarium
by Sanae
Summary: The story of how a Meteor turned into a White Comet, found the Red Suns and met the Speed Stars.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Initial D, Shigeno-sensei and the Kodansha Publishing Company do.

A/N: As per Dragon Reverb's request, I've decided to write this now, hoping that in next week's chapter, Shigeno-sensei will finish the arc about Ryosuke's past and thus allow me to start writing about it with all the information I need. If that's not the case, fear not, I think I can come up with at least one or two chapters while we wait. And if you guys feel like re-reading my other Initial D stories, you should know that I have finished correcting most typos/continuity cock ups/errors et. al. in all of them. In fact, I would advise you to re-read Programmed Lives - First Stage since I have changed a few things here and there. It's nothing major but if you guys are really, really bored...

Now, about this story, I've chosen the year based on the fact that, in theory, Initial D's year one is 1996 or 1997. I've decided to do an average there and I've come up with 1992. You'll see the reason why if you read this prologue. Now, without further ado, I hope you guys like this because I had as much fun writing about a younger Ryosuke as I knew I would. ^_^

As always, thanks a bunch for reading!

**Planetarium**

_Prologue_

Maebashi – March 1992

Every graduation day was the same: the main hall was packed with row after row of perfectly groomed third year students, the girls wore a navy blue sailor uniform with white edges and a pair of shiny black moccasins, the boys had black trousers, freshly pressed white shirts and the navy blue blazer with the Meiwa Private High School emblem embroidered on the pocket. Joining the students at the two grandstands by each side of the main hall, one found a group of more or less proud relatives dressed up for the occasion.

Up at the stage, the fourteen members of the faculty and the school's Principal were more eager than usual to start the ceremony because this year something peculiar had happened: for the first time in the long history of one of Japan's most strict and exclusive schools one of their students was graduating with honours and not just any student, he was the Student Council President too.

'Takahashi Ryosuke-kun,' the Principal called out.

The eighteen year old got up from his chair with his usual dignified air that made all of his teachers respect him and which caused the deepest admiration among his peers. In reality, he thought while he walked up to the stage, he was utterly bored by the proceedings and keeping his head up and his shoulders squared was just a way for him to stay awake.

As he stepped behind the podium, ready to give his valedictorian speech, he noticed the adoring looks he got from the girls and the awed expressions on the boys' faces. Ryosuke had grown used to them but it still irked him whenever he saw them. If they spent as much time studying as they did worshipping him, he was certain that the school's average would easily top the national charts. Instead, here he was, with everybody looking up at him, ready to get mesmerised with his words making him wonder if any of them actually listened to anything he said or if, maybe, they just got enthralled with the sound of his voice.

'Fellow students,' he started reciting, 'we're gathered here today in this joyful occasion to celebrate that, thanks to our honourable faculty and our beloved families, we will collect our high school diplomas and in so doing, we will officially enter our society,' he stopped speaking for added effect then, he said, 'my wish is that I will become a dependable person so that, one day, someone else will be able to rely on me the way I've insofar relied on others. I am aware that day is still very far so, today, I'll renew my humble request to my parents and to our honourable faculty to continue giving me their guidance so that I can become such person. To you, my fellow students, I would like to say thank you for the wonderful years we've shared together in this beautiful school and I would like to wish you the very best for your future. Thank you and good luck.'

He then stepped away from the podium and, offering a bow to the faculty first, he then bowed again towards the rest of the people at the main hall and, just then, a thundering applause broke the silence. Ryosuke felt lucky he was bowing because he could roll his eyes feeling a mix of frustration and disbelief.

He really wanted to get the hell out of there.

Alas, his wish would not be granted quite so easily: right after his speech, the Principal made a huge fuss about giving him his diploma, reminding the entire school that he was the example they all needed to follow. That the key to his success was constant effort and the will to excel in everything he did. So naïve, Ryosuke thought forcing himself to smile at the old man; the reality was very different, the only reason why he did what he did was simply because he was used to it. Ever since he'd been a small boy, his father had always demanded a one hundred and twenty percent effort in everything he did and, with time, that had become his default.

While he walked back onto his seat, among yet another round of applause, he dared to look at his father's expression and he wasn't surprised to see that, in spite of what his son had achieved, he wasn't looking particularly impressed. Sousuke Takahashi expected this from his son, no more and absolutely no less. Glancing at his mother Kinue, Ryosuke had the meagre satisfaction to see that the kimono clad woman did look a little proud, yet again, Ryosuke suspected the woman was just happy she would have something to brag about with the other matrons from the Gunma Women Social Club. That thought made him smile a bit.

'Nice speech,' his classmate Takayuki Uehara whispered while Ryosuke sat back down.

'Thanks,' he replied.

Takayuki was one of the very few people in the school Ryosuke considered his friend. The two had met in their first year and the guy's outgoing personality together with their common interest in engineering had provided a base firm enough onto which build their friendship. He was sad that Takayuki had decided to move to Italy and study architecture at the Università degli Studi di Milano.

Lost in his own thoughts, Ryosuke barely noticed that the handing of the diplomas had just finished and only when he got summoned by the Principal, who probably wanted to have a chat with him and his parents, he forced himself to get up.

'I'll see you in class,' he told Takayuki.

'Sure,' the guy said, 'if you don't come within ten minutes, I'll come and rescue you, okay?'

'Thanks a lot,' Ryosuke replied with a smirk.

'That's what friends are for,' he said returning the smirk.

Ryosuke nodded and then, he walked to where his parents and the Principal were.

'Takahashi-kun,' the old man said, his voice overcome with emotion, 'I was jus telling your parents what a great pleasure it's been having you at Meiwa. I would like to take this chance to wish you the very best for the future but, as I was telling them, we all certain that you'll reach whichever target you set yourself.'

'I'll do my best,' he promised.

'Doctor Takahashi,' the Principal continued, 'you and your lovely wife must be so proud of him.'

'Of course,' Sousuke replied sounding entirely convincing. Ryosuke knew better.

'You're a busy man,' the Principal told the Doctor, 'I don't want to keep you from your commitments but I just wanted to let you know that, with his score, your son has established a new record. We needed to award him five more points than the maximum permitted after he found an error in one of the questions in the geometry test. Of course,' the Principal added, 'that sort of attention to detail is to be expected from a future doctor, isn't that right, Doctor Takahashi?'

'It is,' Sousuke said, 'now, I hope you'll excuse me but, like you said, I'm a busy man and I need to go.'

'Of course,' the Principal said, 'thank you for making time to come to the ceremony.'

'You're welcome,' Doctor Takahashi said then, entirely dismissing the old man, he looked at his son and said, 'your mother and I will take our leave now. The family will be having dinner at Chez Pierre at seven.'

'Yes, Father,' Ryosuke forced himself to say.

With this, Doctor Takahashi and his wife Kinue left the school with the woman not having uttered a single word in the whole time. Yet again, she had been brought up to be the perfect corporate wife and she always took the utmost care that her behaviour in public was always as impeccable as her husband expected of her.

'Takahashi-kun,' the Principal's voice took him out of his reverie.

'Yes?' Ryosuke asked.

'I didn't want to comment this in front of your parents because I didn't want to ruin your day,' the man said, 'but it's been brought to my attention that your brother Keisuke failed to attend school today. I am most concerned about how he'll fare in his second year now that you won't be here to keep an eye on him.'

Ryosuke wanted to tell him that now he'd be gone the faculty would finally be forced to do what they were paid to do and try to educate his unruly sixteen-year-old brother instead of relying on him to keep him in check all the time. Forcing a fake smile, he said instead:

'Please don't award me merits that aren't mine, the teachers here are very capable of doing their job.'

'But, Takahashi-kun…'

'Inoue-sensei,' Ryosuke interrupted him as gently as he could manage, 'I'm sure that other parents need your attention today, I wouldn't want to keep you from your duties while we talk about my brother's latest misbehaviour.'

'Of course,' the Principal said.

'Then,' Ryosuke added, 'with your permission, I'll go and start my round of farewells.'

'Yes, yes,' Inoue-sensei said, 'of course, you should go and say goodbye to your friends.'

'Thank you,' Ryosuke replied.

A few moments later, he had almost made it to his classroom when he found an alarmingly high number of girls gathered outside the big white sliding doors. They were obviously waiting for him and for the briefest instant, Ryosuke considered turning around so that he could run away from them. Only his own pride and the fact that one of the girls had already spotted him prevented him from actuating any escape plans.

'RYOSUKE-SAMA!' the girl shouted unnecessarily loudly, 'RYOSUKE-SAMA IS HERE!'

Immediately, a horde of fangirls started shouting his name and, predictably, the classroom's door opened to reveal a few of Ryosuke's classmates, including a very amused looking Takayuki. Ryosuke knew better than to ask him for help and, instead, he surrendered to the inevitable while he waited for the girls to calm down a bit.

'Ryosuke-sama,' one of them finally said. The poor girl looked like she was about to faint.

'Yes?' he replied doing his best to ignore Takayuki's intent staring.

'We…' she started then, she bit her lower lip and with a trembling hand, she pointed at the second button of his navy blue jacket, 'we were wondering…' she tried again, '…is it taken?' she finally spat out.

'Oh,' Ryosuke said with a fake grin, he placed his hand onto the button and replied, 'it is, I'm afraid.'

He had to repress the urge to roll his eyes seeing the devastated expressions on the girls' faces.

'Who's the lucky girl?' another one of his fangirls dared to ask.

'My cousin Tsugumi,' Ryosuke replied firmly for he'd had the answer prepared for months, 'she's only ten years old and has made me promise that I would give the button to her. I couldn't possibly refuse such request.'

Now, their faces all showed a dreamy expression, one he found oddly amusing.

'Ryosuke-sama,' the first girl said, 'you're such a great person.'

'He's got such a big heart,' another of the girls said.

'You're going to be such a great father,' yet another said.

Ryosuke nearly chocked himself hearing that. Barely controlling his tone of voice, he laughed softly and said:

'It's still too soon for that.'

'Of course,' the girl said looking mortified, 'I meant, one day, in the future, when…'

'I understand,' Ryosuke interrupted her, 'now, if you please excuse me, I need to go in there.'

'Of course, of course,' the girls chanted at the same time, 'please, go ahead.'

'Thank you,' Ryosuke replied.

He finally stepped into the classroom and, once they were sitting at their desks, probably for the last time ever, Takayuki leant closer to him and, giving him one of his famous inquisitive glances, he asked him:

'Your cousin? Couldn't you come up with a better excuse?'

'It's not an excuse,' Ryosuke replied firmly, 'Tsugumi will get the button,' he then lowered his tone even more and confessed, 'in reality, it's me who has promised it to her, not the other way around.'

'I knew that,' Takayuki replied with a triumphant smile, 'listen,' he then said, 'are you busy this afternoon?'

'Not really,' Ryosuke said, 'I need to drop by the Student Council's room to hand over the president badge to the newly elected one and then I'll have to do a quick round around the clubs and societies I've belonged to…'

'…alright,' Takayuki interrupted him, 'that will only take you till the next century.'

'No,' Ryosuke said, 'I'll be done in an hour tops.'

'Yeah, right,' his friend said sounding highly sceptical.

'Time me if you want,' Ryosuke countered.

'Alright,' Takayuki said grasping his Swiss-made watch, 'time starts…now.'

Accepting the challenge, Ryosuke got up from his chair, left the classroom and started his seemingly impossible quest by the Public Moral Committee he had been the president of for the past two years. He then moved to the Kendo Club and then went to the Society of Science and Engineering where its treasurer announced he'd been made Honorary President for Life. He then did a few more stops in other clubrooms, ending his tour with the Student Council where a group of teary second years thanked him for all the hard work he'd done in the past three years. Fifty four minutes later, as promised, he was back in his classroom.

'Alright,' Takayuki admitted, 'I'm impressed.'

'So,' Ryosuke said, 'what's the big plan for this afternoon?'

'Right,' his friend asked, 'you know my older sister works for DENSO, right?'

'Yes, I do,' Ryosuke replied.

'Well,' Takayuki said, 'her department is sponsoring this small race in the Gunma Cycle Sport Club…'

'Race?' Ryosuke asked, 'what type of race?'

'Cars,' Takayuki said then, before Ryosuke could protest, he added, 'I know you're not into that kind of stuff but I've promised to my sister that we'd be there to support her and, come on, you like machines as much as I do, right?'

'Yes, but…'

'Cars _are_ machines, aren't they?'

'Alright,' Ryosuke accepted, 'we'll just show for a bit, but I need to be back in Takasaki by half six, okay?'

'Cool,' Takayuki said, 'I knew you wouldn't let me down!'

'When have I ever?' Ryosuke challenged him.

Takayuki just laughed at that and then, at long last, the two friends got up from their desk, gathered all their belongings and after greeting everybody they knew along the way, they exited the school for the last time ever. They also walked to the Shin-Maebashi train station together and got on their usual train to Takasaki, the city where both teenagers lived.

'It's the last time we do this,' Takayuki commented.

'Are you going to get sentimental now?' Ryosuke asked him.

'No way,' Takayuki denied, 'I was just saying it.'

'Of course,' Ryosuke teased him.

Some time later he arrived to an apparently empty home knowing that he only had an hour to change out of his school uniform, grab something to eat for lunch and then rush back to the station where Takayuki said he had a surprise for him. Ryosuke was just putting his slippers on so that he could enter the house when he saw his sixteen year old brother walking out of the kitchen with a glass half full of orange juice in his right hand and a muffin in his left one. Judging by the state of his dark brown bangs, he had just got up.

'Good afternoon, Keisuke,' Ryosuke said with a hint of sarcasm.

'Too loud,' the boy complained.

'Are you hangover, again?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Yeah,' Keisuke replied shamelessly.

Ryosuke repressed the urge to smack the back of his head. Instead, he said:

'You could have come to school today.'

'Why?' Keisuke asked.

'It was the last day,' Ryosuke replied.

'Precisely,' Keisuke said, 'what's the point of going to school if it's the last day?'

'I graduated today,' Ryosuke explained, 'I would have liked you to be there.'

'Why?' Keisuke repeated, 'are you running low on fan club members?'

'Keisuke…'

The boy just yawned widely and with a grumpy tone, he said:

'See? You've made me sleepy again. Good night.'

With this and without waiting for an answer, Keisuke walked past him while he stuffed the muffin in his mouth so that he could scratch his head making his long hair look even messier. Ryosuke watched him as he dragged his lanky body up the stairs feeling so frustrated by his insolence that he even forgot to ask him if he wanted to come with him to watch the race. Instead, he just went into the kitchen so that he could fix himself something quick to eat for lunch.

Ryosuke arrived at the meeting place five minutes before the agreed time but, for the first and probably last time ever, Takayuki had arrived there first. The reason: he was driving a brand new, bottle green Honda Concerto Sedan.

'What the…'

'Do you like it?' Takayuki asked him talking from behind the wheel.

'Aren't you leaving for Italy soon?' Ryosuke asked him back.

'Yes, I am, but...'

'Then,' Ryosuke interrupted him, 'why did you buy yourself a car?'

'This is not mine,' Takayuki said, 'it's my sister's new company car, she's lending it to me today.'

'As a thank you for showing up at the race,' Ryosuke guessed.

'Correct,' Takayuki said, 'now, get in or we'll be late.'

'Er…'

'Come on, don't you trust me?' Takayuki asked him.

'Do you want an honest answer to that question?' Ryosuke said.

'Not really,' Takayuki said, 'but since you don't have your driving license yet, I guess you'll have to trust me.'

Without confirming nor denying that, Ryosuke just got in the car trying not to think about the consequences.

'Speaking of which,' Takayuki said turning the one point six litre engine on, 'when are you going to get it?'

'Get what?' Ryosuke asked playing himself dumb.

'You know what I mean,' Takayuki protested.

'I don't know,' Ryosuke replied, 'I've never really needed it before but I guess I should get it soon.'

'Yeah,' Takayuki said, 'it'd be very uncool if you turn nineteen before you get your license, besides, what kind of a doctor are you going to be if you can't drive to your patients?'

'Idiot,' Ryosuke said, 'my father runs a hospital, usually, the patients come to us, not the other way round.'

'Ah, yeah, I forgot,' Takayuki said.

'Now,' Ryosuke asked, 'are you going to start driving or should I go and get my driving license while I wait?'

'Funny,' the guy said, 'Ryosuke-kun, you almost made a joke there!'

'Shut up and drive or I'll change my mind about coming.'

'Alright, alright,' Takayuki hurried to say, 'I'm driving!'

One hour and fifteen terrifying minutes later, Ryosuke swore he would rather walk back to Takasaki before he would get back in the car with his nutter of a friend. He couldn't remember feeling more scared in his whole life and it was nothing short of a miracle he somehow managed to make it to the edge of the six kilometre long paved path which conformed the Gunma Cycle Sport Club circuit.

Taking a seat at a nearby grandstand which was beginning to fill with people, Ryosuke was trying to gather enough energy to insult Takayuki when they heard the sound of a finely tuned engine driving towards the main straight. What happened next was something he would remember for the rest of his life: the car, instead of driving around the corner, started sliding onto its four tyres with a grace that Ryosuke had never experienced before then, without losing any momentum, it just darted past right in front of him.

'Takayuki,' Ryosuke asked, 'what's that car called?'

'That,' his friend replied, 'is a Mazda Savanna RX-7 FC3S, I'm not sure but I think it's an Infini III.'

'I like it,' Ryosuke said, 'I like it a lot.'

_To be continued…_


	2. Chapter One

Quick comment about the year: Ryosuke's FC is from 1990, Keisuke's FD is from 1993. Ryosuke was 23 in the first episode of Initial D (which was supposed to be 1996/1997) and he is 24 during Project D, so based on that, I decided to set the starting year of the story in 1992 to average things out a bit. That said and since not even Shigeno-sensei bothers to keep a coherent year in the canon (throwing cars into the mix that aren't supposed to be available like Ikeda's Z33) I think I'm just going to come up with an alternative time line while doing my best to remain as faithful to the canon's as humanly possible. I need to take this literary license or this story of mine will never work so please try to be understanding. ^_^

As always, thanks for reading and for your encouraging words, they really help!

**Planetarium**

_Chapter One_

The Takahashi's family dinner at Chez Pierre was, to say the least, an awkward affair and Ryosuke had to appeal to his best diplomatic skills in order to keep his father's attention focused on him, rather than on Keisuke. It didn't help that the youngest member of the family had refused to wear the suit the housemaid had prepared for him and, instead, he was wearing a pair of beige combat trousers and a black t-shirt from some British rock band from the seventies.

'Father,' Ryosuke started, 'I'd like to consult something with you,' the doctor simply nodded and that prompted him to continue, 'now that I've graduated from high school and that I've secured my acceptance into the medical school you recommended, I think it's the right time for me to apply for my driving license.'

'What a happy coincidence,' his mother said making Ryosuke feel puzzled, she then glanced at her husband and asked him, 'dear, can I tell him?'

'Go ahead,' Doctor Takahashi replied.

'As your graduation present,' Kinue explained, 'your father and I were thinking of buying you a car.'

'Are you serious?' Keisuke asked her.

'Of course,' she replied offering him a smile, 'your older brother has graduated with honours.'

'It'll be a miracle if you manage to graduate at all,' Sousuke added glaring at his youngest son.

'Keisuke,' Ryosuke said, 'do you still have the address of the school where you got your motorcycle license?'

'Yeah,' the boy replied obviously ignoring his father, 'I think I have it somewhere in my room.'

'I remember you saying that it was a very good driving school,' Ryosuke asked him.

'They were pretty cool,' Keisuke replied.

'I'm glad to hear that,' Ryosuke said then, he asked his father, 'did you have any particular make in mind?'

'To be honest,' the doctor replied, 'we didn't really know if there was a model you would prefer so…'

'There is,' Ryosuke interrupted him as gently as he could, 'I've only seen it recently but I'm quite taken by it.'

'Is that so?' Kinue asked him.

'Yes, Mother,' Ryosuke replied, 'it's called RX-7 Savanna and it's made by Mazda.'

'Isn't that an old car?' Keisuke asked him.

'Not really,' Ryosuke replied, feeling grateful that Takayuki had briefed him on the subject, 'the FC3S is still in production and the specific series I'm after came out less than two years ago. I've been told that it was released in limited numbers so finding a brand new unit might prove a little bit difficult.'

'Have you tried?' his father challenged him.

'Not yet,' Ryosuke replied, 'I thought of applying for the license and then I needed to ask for your approval.'

'You have it,' Sousuke replied.

'Thank you, Father,' Ryosuke said, 'in that case: I shall start my search first thing tomorrow morning.'

'Inform me as soon as you find it,' Doctor Takahashi ordered him.

'Of course, Father,' Ryosuke replied.

Two very long hours later, their father drove them back home in the Mercedes and, as soon as the car was inside the garage, Ryosuke saw his parents entering the house while Keisuke went to retrieve his helmet from the top of his motorbike, a black and red Honda CBR 400. Ryosuke stopped him before he could put it on.

'Wait,' he said.

'What?' Keisuke asked.

'Where are you going?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Out,' Keisuke replied.

'Keisuke…'

'Aniki,' the boy said, 'I've been playing happy family for the past three hours. I think I deserve a break now.'

'I need to talk to you,' Ryosuke insisted.

Keisuke stared at him for a couple of moments before he let out a sigh full of resignation. He then placed the helmet back onto the CBR's seat and crossed his arms on top of his chest while he waited for his older brother to start speaking.

'Okay,' Ryosuke said, 'I know school can be a bit boring…'

'A bit?' Keisuke asked him sounding very sarcastic.

'Alright,' Ryosuke accepted, 'it's boring most of the time.'

'Yeah,' Keisuke said.

'Nevertheless,' Ryosuke continued, 'if you want Father to get off your case, you need to be a lot smarter.'

'I'm doomed then, aren't I?' Keisuke asked with an ironic smirk.

'No, you're not,' Ryosuke replied seriously, 'what you need to do is to make sure your behaviour at school is impeccable, keep your marks up and this way no one will have anything to reproach you. Also, you need to stop drinking alcohol.'

'Why?' Keisuke asked.

'Because you're underage,' Ryosuke replied pointing out the obvious, 'if the police caught you…'

'They won't,' Keisuke interrupted him.

'You can't know that,' Ryosuke countered.

'We do,' Keisuke said, 'we're not so stupid to start drinking in public. We usually do it in our secret base.'

'Secret base?' Ryosuke asked trying not to sound amused.

'Yeah,' Keisuke replied, 'where our group gathers to, well, have fun, mostly.'

Ryosuke shook his head and not wanting to know more than that, he said:

'Alright, just promise me that you'll be careful.'

'I'll do my best,' Keisuke said being purposely vague.

'I'm serious,' Ryosuke insisted.

'I know,' Keisuke replied, 'and that's your problem: you're always too serious.'

'Someone has to be,' Ryosuke countered, 'Keisuke, I'm very worried about you, promise me that you'll take care of yourself and that you'll behave at school. Now that I won't be there with you, it's going to be difficult to…'

'I get it,' Keisuke said narrowing his eyes, 'can I go now?'

'Not until you promise me you'll be careful,' Ryosuke replied.

'Alright,' Keisuke said, 'I promise. Happy?'

'Not quite,' Ryosuke replied honestly, 'but it'll have to do.'

'Great,' Keisuke said with fake enthusiasm while he grabbed helmet again.

He pushed his head inside of it and, not bothering with fastening it properly, he climbed onto his motorbike and turned its engine on. A moment later, Ryosuke watched the back of the CBR 400 disappearing in the distance.

A week after their family dinner, Ryosuke waited for Takayuki at the eastern exit of the Takasaki station while he finished reading the national traffic regulations handbook the driving school had given him when he'd enrolled four days before.

'Hey,' his friend said, 'sorry I'm late: I've been up to my ears sorting out official paperwork.'

'Everything's ready now, isn't it?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Yes,' Takayuki replied sounding relieved, 'all I have left now is packing my suitcase and I'm done.'

Ryosuke didn't say anything to that, instead, he closed the handbook and got up from the bench.

'How is it going?' Takayuki asked looking at it, 'I take you don't need any help preparing for the written test.'

'Help?' Ryosuke asked sarcastically, 'if I had known it was going to be so easy, I would have skipped the intensive course.'

'I told you that you could do the whole thing without attending a driving school,' Takayuki said.

'I know you did,' Ryosuke replied, 'but I still need the school's training car to get some practice.'

'I don't get it,' Takayuki said, 'you guys have what, three or four cars?'

'Just two,' Ryosuke corrected, 'but one is a Bentley limousine and the other one is a Mercedes automatic.'

'Ah, I see,' Takayuki said, 'not exactly what you need if you're applying for a manual transmission license.'

'Definitely not,' Ryosuke confirmed, 'now, let's go or we'll be late for the appointment with the dealership.'

'I still can't believe you found one,' Takayuki said while they started walking.

'It wasn't easy,' Ryosuke admitted.

'I bet it wasn't,' Takayuki said, 'they only made six hundred of them. It's a miracle that you managed to find an unsold unit and that they were prepared to ship it all the way down from Akita to our local dealership here in Takasaki.'

'Money is usually a good persuasive factor,' Ryosuke told him with a smirk.

'It sure is,' Takayuki said, 'I still can't believe you actually bought it without even taking a look at it.'

'I don't need to,' Ryosuke replied, 'I know it's the car I want and that's more than enough for me.'

'As long as you're happy,' Takayuki said.

'I am,' Ryosuke assured him.

Fifteen minutes later, the two friends made it to the Mazda dealership located in Takasaki's city center. The shop had a few models on display but Ryosuke didn't look at any of them, his attention was focused solely on the Crystal White RX-7 FC3S he could see at the back of the showroom and he only stopped staring at it when an employee came to greet them.

'Good morning,' the man said, 'how may I help you?'

'My name is Takahashi Ryosuke,' he replied.

'Ah,' the employee gasped his smile widening, 'of course, you're the son of Doctor Takahashi, aren't you?'

'That's correct,' Ryosuke confirmed then, indicating the white FC, he asked, 'I take that's the one I ordered?'

'Yes, it is,' he replied with a nod, 'if you and your friend can please follow me,' they did and soon Ryosuke found himself seating behind the car's steering wheel while he and Takayuki listened to the salesman's rant about the long list of extras which had been added to this limited edition, '…it's got upgraded suspensions, upgraded ECU, fifteen-inch BBS aluminium alloy wheels, lightened weight and…'

'May I see the manual?' Ryosuke asked the man who looked startled for a moment.

'Of course,' he replied before hurrying to his desk leaving the two teenagers alone with the car.

'The manual?' Takayuki whispered.

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied calmly, 'I'd rather read about the FC's specs myself, besides, I've already bought the car, it's not like the man has to sell it to me. Also, I fear that if we let him talk, we'll never get out of here.'

Takayuki just shook his head while he smiled at his friend.

Nearly an hour later and after they had screwed the number plates onto the brand new car and Ryosuke had signed everything he needed to sign, the salesman gave him two sets of keys, a pouch containing all the documents the car needed to be road legal, including the insurance they had previously contracted as well as a complimentary but well assorted toolbox offered by the dealership itself. The man then tried to give Ryosuke a dark grey sweatshirt bearing the Mazda logo but he politely refused it and, handing one of the keys to Takayuki, he said:

'Let's go.'

'Yes, sir,' his friend replied playfully. Ryosuke went to seat at the FC's passenger seat while Takayuki sat behind the steering wheel, before he inserted the key into the ignition, Takayuki spent a moment to touch the Infini badge on it, smiling as he did so, 'alright,' he said, 'let's do this.' Takayuki then turned the 13B engine on.

Hearing the rotary's powerful purr for the first time made Ryosuke feel an adrenaline rush that removed any of the doubts he'd had regarding the impulsiveness of this action. This car, he thought, had been made to belong to him, he was one hundred percent sure of it and for the first time in a long, long time, he felt truly happy about something.

While Takayuki drove the car outside the dealership and onto the road, Ryosuke started scanning the first pages of the user manual and by the time they reached the Takahashi residence, less than ten minutes later, he had almost finished reading the first chapter, which also served as an introduction of the beautiful machine he now owned.

'Park it in there,' Ryosuke instructed pointing at the open garage where one could see the dark Bentley limousine.

'Sure,' his friend replied. He complied and as soon as he stopped the engine, he said, 'mate, this is a fantastic car.'

Ryosuke just nodded while he climbed out of the FC3S. He then walked around it while he started checking the details to see if they matched the description on the manual, he then popped the bonnet open and there, he saw, among other components, the 13B rotary engine. Written in red on top of it, he read the words "Rotary Turbo with Intercooler" and, through the grid which covered the engine, he saw the mass of metallic tubes, hoses, cogs and other mechanisms which composed the turbo charged Mazda's Wankel rotary engine.

'Hey,' Takayuki said, interrupting his exploration, 'is that rascal of your brother home?'

'I doubt it,' Ryosuke replied while he lowered the bonnet's cover, pinning it back in its place, 'why?'

'No reason,' Takayuki said, 'I guess I just wanted to say goodbye to him before I leave.'

'I see,' Ryosuke replied, 'well, I'll tell him whenever I see him, which it might not be anytime soon.'

'What do you mean?' Takayuki said frowning seeing the worried look on his friend's face.

'I haven't seen Keisuke in nearly three days,' Ryosuke explained, 'in fact, I think I've seen him for about five or ten minutes ever since the school holidays started. He hasn't had a single meal in the house since then, it makes me wonder where and what he eats.'

'Hey,' Takayuki said, 'that's to be expected, right? I mean, the kid is enjoying his holidays too, isn't he?'

'Yes but…'

'Ryosuke,' he interrupted him, 'your brother is a good kid and he's just doing what normal kids do.'

'I didn't just disappear for days when I was his age,' Ryosuke pointed out.

'Yeah,' Takayuki agreed, 'but again, you've never been a normal teenager, have you?'

'What's that supposed to mean?' Ryosuke asked glaring at him.

'It means,' an unfazed Takayuki replied, 'that Keisuke is having fun, I know it's a mysterious concept for you but try to understand. Seriously though, I don't think you need to smother him so much: your brother can take care of himself.'

'I don't smother him,' Ryosuke protested.

'Yes you do,' Takayuki countered, 'now, let's quit talking, what do you say if you take this up Mt Akagi?'

'I can't drive it yet,' Ryosuke said, 'I don't have the license, do I?'

'No, you don't,' Takayuki conceded, 'but you've got the temporary permit, don't you?'

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied, 'but I need someone with a full license that's been issued for at least three years.'

'So?' Takayuki asked.

'Your license is only a few months old,' Ryosuke replied.

'That's right,' Takayuki said, 'which is the reason why we're going to pick my sister up from her job.'

'What?'

'Come on,' the guy said, 'she said she'd be happy to sit with us in the car during her lunch break.'

'Takayuki…'

'Aren't you dying to drive it for a bit?'

'Yes, of course I am,' Ryosuke replied, 'but unlike you, I can easily wait until I'll be able to drive it by myself.'

'Ryosuke…'

'I'm taking the driving test in just a couple of weeks,' he explained, 'until then I'll just leave it here.'

'Are you saying you're not going to drive it at all?' Takayuki asked sounding slightly scandalised.

'That's exactly what I'm saying,' Ryosuke replied calmly, 'now, let's go inside and get some lunch, shall we?'

The two friends spent the rest of the day talking about the car and reminiscing the three years they had spent in high school and when it was time for Takayuki to go back home, Ryosuke felt an unexpected pang of melancholy when he realised that it was probably going to be the last time he'd see Takayuki before he would travel to Milan, Italy.

'I'll write,' the guy promised.

'Alright,' Ryosuke said.

'And listen,' Takayuki continued, 'when I come back, we could take that FC of yours and go on a road trip.'

'That sounds like a good idea,' Ryosuke said with a soft smile, 'you'll take care of yourself, won't you?'

'Of course,' Takayuki said, 'now I better go before you get all mushy-mushy with me.'

Ryosuke's sceptical half-glare was enough for Takayuki to burst out laughing.

'Take care of yourself you too,' he said once he calmed down a bit.

'I will,' Ryosuke promised, 'and thank you for driving the FC here.'

'It was a pleasure, trust me,' Takayuki said, 'you're going to have heaps of fun, once you start driving it.'

'I'm sure I will,' Ryosuke replied.

With that, the guy left the Takahashi residence leaving Ryosuke standing in front of the door by himself. He stayed there for a few moments then, giving himself a determined nod, he walked into the living room, picked up the FC's manual and the driving school's handbook from the table where he'd left them and, with both books in his hands he went up the stairs and into his room where he sat on his study chair and, discarding the handbook, he continued reading the manual, stopping to take notes of the things he wanted to research later at the town's public library.

Two weeks after collecting the new car and with his forty eight hours old driving license in his wallet, Ryosuke got onboard the FC to drive it to the campus of Gunma University's Medical School. During that fortnight, when he wasn't busy with the driving lessons, he had gathered every bit of information regarding every single component of the FC, from its rotary engine all the way to the braking pads, there was nothing in the car of which Ryosuke had not read about. Because of this and in spite of the fact that it was the very first time he was going to actually drive the car, he felt an out of the ordinary familiarity with the FC.

Cruising down the quiet street where his family had their home, Ryosuke enjoyed the characteristic sound coming from the 13B as it revved up and down while he changed gears. He liked the smoothness of the gearbox, the precision of the brakes but, above all, he loved the fact that now he had his own car, for the first time in his life, he felt truly and absolutely free.

'We're going to be a good team, aren't we?' he said tapping the shifter's knob with his fingers.

Letting out a soft chuckle, he realised that he was talking to a car but, somehow, he didn't find it weird at all. In fact, he was so focused on his first experience behind the FC's steering wheel that when he arrived at the campus twenty five minutes later, he had nearly forgotten the reason why he was driving there. Today was his first day at medical school and, if everything went according to plan, in less than four years from now he would start his residency at the Takahashi General Hospital.

Distracted as he was by this thought, he almost failed to notice a girl that had started crossing the road right in front of the FC and, thanks to Ryosuke's quick reflexes as well as the brand new braking pads, he managed to stop the car just before it hit her. Unfortunately, the girl was so frightened by the incident that she ended up falling onto the ground anyway making Ryosuke climb out of the car while he hoped she hadn't got hurt in any way.

'I'm sorry,' he said hurrying to her side, 'I'm very, very sorry, I…'

'It's okay,' the girl said offering what she probably thought was a reassuring smile, 'it's my fault: I wasn't looking.'

'Please,' Ryosuke said giving her his hand, 'let me help you.'

'Thank you,' the girl replied taking it and getting back up.

Ryosuke then collected the books she had dropped. Looking at the covers, he handed them to her and said:

'You're a medical student too, aren't you?'

'Yes,' the girl replied, 'I'm starting my second year today.'

'In that case,' Ryosuke said, 'you're my senpai. I'm first year student Takahashi Ryosuke.'

'It's nice to meet you,' she said and pointing at the FC, she added, 'shouldn't you move it out of the way?'

'Of course,' Ryosuke replied.

'Okay, have a nice day, Takahashi-kun,' the girl said bowing her head a bit then, she left without giving him the time to ask for her name. Ryosuke watched her walking away from him feeling slightly puzzled and, getting back into the FC, he inserted the first gear smiling as he realised the reason why he felt confused: for the first time in a very long time, he had spoken to a girl who obviously wasn't interested in getting in his pants. It was a rather refreshing experience.

Finding an empty parking space for his FC, Ryosuke started toying with the idea that, maybe, now he was at university, the girls there would all treat him like an equal and that he would not have to put up a cool front to keep them away from him like he'd done for the past three years and, perhaps, he would even find someone he could bring himself to like, maybe a girl like the nameless one he'd just met...this thought startled him so he decided to quickly push it at the back of his mind.

Grabbing his bag, Ryosuke stepped out of his car and, closing the door carefully, he started walking towards the Medical School building and then went to the information desk where he was given a welcome kit by one of the university's clerks. Within the kit, he found a very helpful map, a list with the names of the lecturers as well as the schedule for the first day, he checked his watch and saw that he had ten minutes to make it to the main hall where all the first years were supposed to gather. Looking at the map, he located the main hall and less than five minutes later he walked into a massive room that was already packed with people.

Finding the nearest empty chair, Ryosuke sat down enjoying the fact that no one seemed to pay any attention to him, in fact, his fellow students were all too busy talking to each other, reading stuff or keeping themselves otherwise occupied to even notice he was there, he decided that he liked that sort of anonymity and hoped it would last for a long time.

By the end of the morning, Ryosuke was a lot happier than he thought he'd be when, an age ago, he had agreed to follow his father's footsteps and become a doctor so that, one day, he would take over the family's hospital. He hoped that getting a degree in medicine would give him the sort of intellectual challenge he hadn't had in his high school years and, if the first day was anything to go by, he honestly believed he would make it to the start of his residency retaining a fair share of sanity.

Walking out of the lecture room, he checked his watch to see that it was still early enough to go back home for lunch. He knew that the university had a decent enough cafeteria but since he felt like getting back behind the FC's steering wheel, he discarded that idea and made his way back to the parking area. He had just inserted the key into the door's lock when he heard a man's voice saying:

'That's a beautiful machine.'

Ryosuke turned round slowly to see a guy taller than he was with an unruly mass of curls on his head. The man looked to be at least two or three years older than he was but, somehow, Ryosuke found his kind smile to be quite reassuring.

'Thank you,' he replied.

'Are you a first year?' the man asked him.

'Yes, I am,' Ryosuke replied.

'I've just started my last year here,' the man said, 'my name is Hojo Rin, what's yours?'

'Takahashi Ryosuke,' he replied, 'it's nice to meet you, Hojo-senpai.'

'Same here,' Rin said then, pointing at the car, he added, 'that's an FC3S, Infini III series, isn't it?'

'Yes, it is,' Ryosuke replied, 'do you like cars, Hojo-senpai?'

'A little bit,' the man said widening his smile, 'not as much as I like my girl.'

Ryosuke was about to ask what he meant by that when, coming down the car park's stairs, he saw the same girl he'd nearly run over first thing in the morning. He had just enough time to put on his mask of indifference when he saw Rin smiling at the approaching girl and, offering his hand to her, which she took, he looked at Ryosuke and said:

'Takahashi-kun, please meet Kaori, my fiancée.'

_To be continued…_


	3. Chapter Two

A/N: As you can see, I'm taking it nice and slow! Please do let me know what you think of this chapter, okay? ^_^

**Planetarium**

_Chapter Two_

My fiancée. For some bizarre reason, those two words kept replaying in Ryosuke's head as if it were some sort of weird echo and that almost made him miss the moment when, smiling at him, the beautiful, long haired girl said:

'It's nice to see you again, Takahashi-kun.'

'Again?' Rin asked her.

'Yes,' Kaori replied and, as casually as possible, she added, 'we had a silly accident earlier this morning.'

'Accident?' Rin asked now sounding alarmed.

'I…' Ryosuke started.

'It was my fault,' Kaori interrupted him, 'Takahashi-kun was driving down the road and I crossed it in front of his car without paying attention. I was very lucky he's got quick enough reflexes, or else…'

'Kaori,' Rin admonished her, 'how many times do I have to tell you to be careful?'

'Hojo-senpai…' Ryosuke tried again.

'Seriously,' Rin insisted, 'you can't just walk across the road without checking for incoming traffic first.'

'I'm sorry,' Kaori said.

'Hojo-senpai,' Ryosuke said, 'it's not entirely her fault, I…'

'It is,' Rin interrupted him, 'she always does that, she loses herself in her own world and never pays attention to what goes on around her. Kaori, I swear, one of these days you'll end up getting yourself killed.'

This time Kaori chose to look down and say nothing.

'Hojo-senpai,' Ryosuke said, 'it really wasn't her fault: it was my first time driving the car and I wasn't paying as much attention to the road as I should have.'

'Is that so?' Rin asked him.

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied, 'I am awfully sorry about that, I'll…'

'How long have you had your license?' Rin asked him.

Ryosuke suddenly felt a little embarrassed but, keeping his composure the best way he could, he said:

'Just a couple of days.'

'Really?' Rin asked looking incredulous, 'you're a newbie yet you got yourself a brand new FC as your first car?'

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied still refusing to look ashamed.

'I see,' Rin said, he then looked pensive for a few moments before he asked, 'where were you going now?'

'Home,' Ryosuke replied.

'Why don't you have lunch with us?' Rin asked him.

Ryosuke hesitated for a brief instant while his mind raced to find a valid excuse. He really didn't fancy playing third wheel to a couple who had just had an argument and, on top of that, some gut feeling told him that he'd be better off going home as he'd originally planned. Alas, before he could come up with anything, he heard Kaori speaking:

'It's your first day here, Takahashi-kun. I think that, as your senpai, Hojo-san and I should treat you to lunch.'

'Er…'

'She's right,' Rin said, 'and we should hurry up or the best ingredients will be gone.'

Seeing himself without any options, Ryosuke forced himself to nod. Five minutes later, he was sitting at the bar of an old ramen restaurant that was right around the corner from the campus, the relatively small place was packed with other students who obviously preferred it to the university's cafeteria.

'We always come here,' Kaori explained, 'it's cheap, the service is fast and the food is very good.'

'That's right,' Rin confirmed, 'I recommend you their miso ramen, the broth is nice and thick and they usually put three or four slices of pork.'

'You're not a vegetarian, are you?' Kaori asked him.

'No, I'm not,' Ryosuke replied.

'Alright then,' Rin said and talking to the man behind the counter, he told him, 'Ueno-san, we'll have three bowls of miso ramen. Make sure you make it as good as usual, you've got a new customer to impress today.'

'I'll do my best,' the man promised before he started working on their order.

'You do come here often,' Ryosuke commented.

'We do,' Rin replied, 'I found this place during my first year and I've never gone anywhere else since.'

Ryosuke was trying to find something to say when Kaori looked at him and said:

'Can I ask you a question?'

'Of course,' Ryosuke replied.

'Say,' she started, 'if you had to reincarnate into an insect, what insect would you pick?'

'Er…' Ryosuke hesitated.

'Here you go again,' Rin said to Kaori then, to Ryosuke, he told him, 'she always does that.'

'Does what?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Scare people with her philosophical questions,' Rin explained smiling fondly, 'I think she enjoys doing that.'

'I'm just curious,' Kaori defended herself, 'you can learn a lot about someone by asking them one or two questions.'

'Is that so?' Ryosuke asked her feeling a little intrigued.

'Yes,' Kaori replied, 'which insect would you pick?'

Ryosuke thought about it for a moment then, he answered:

'I think I'd be an ant.'

'Interesting,' she said, 'why would you want to be an ant?'

'Well,' Ryosuke said, 'ants are immensely strong and disciplined creatures. I admire the way they work hard towards the benefit of their community and how they don't hesitate to protect their queen and her larvae.'

'That's deep,' Rin commented looking slightly amused.

'It is,' Kaori agreed but she seemed like she was somehow dissatisfied with Ryosuke's reply, 'looking at you and having heard your answer,' she said, 'I would have thought you would have preferred being a bee.'

'A bee?' Ryosuke asked.

'Yes,' Kaori replied firmly, 'bees are like ants in every way you've described them but, on top of that, they can also fly. I think you are the kind of person who would enjoy the sort of freedom only flying can give you.'

Hojo-san was right, a startled Ryosuke thought: Kaori was indeed a rather frightening person.

'Am I wrong?' she asked him.

'No,' Ryosuke forced himself to admit, 'you're pretty much spot on.'

'I knew it,' she said with a triumphant smile.

Thankfully, Ueno-san chose that moment to serve them their bowls of ramen and to Ryosuke's immense relief, this also allowed Rin to steer their increasingly disturbing conversation to a much safer ground: Ryosuke's driving experience or, lack of thereof.

'Takahashi-kun,' he said, 'you told us you just passed your driving test.'

'Yes, I did,' Ryosuke replied.

'But yet, you bought an FC,' Rin said, 'why?'

'I liked it,' Ryosuke replied simply.

'Fair enough,' Rin said, 'but you do know that an FC isn't the sort of car one buys to simply commute, don't you?'

'I'm aware of that,' Ryosuke replied.

'So, what do you want to do with it?' Rin asked him.

'I'm not sure yet,' Ryosuke replied honestly, 'but I do know that I need to improve my driving skills as quickly as I can.'

'Yes, you should do that,' Rin said mercilessly, 'with a car like yours, you will always need to be able to be in control.'

'I know,' Ryosuke agreed.

'And tell me,' Rin said, 'how exactly are you planning on getting better?'

'What do you mean?'

'Well,' Rin replied, 'there are several methods one can use to improve their skills at the wheel: the most obvious one would be for you to attend a driving course at one of the schools here…'

'I've already attended a driving school,' Ryosuke pointed out.

'Contrary to popular belief,' Rin said looking very serious, 'driving schools don't teach you to drive.'

'Hojo-senpai…'

'They merely teach you to pass the driving test,' the man continued, 'which is very different from what driving really is. Sure, after you get your license you should be able to take a car from A to B without crashing it but you probably won't be able to control it in certain, more extreme situations, will you?'

'I guess not,' Ryosuke admitted.

'No, of course not,' Rin said, 'which is why I think that you should consider attending an advanced driving course at one of the local racing schools. I could even recommend you a couple of them if you're interested.'

'I'd appreciate that,' Ryosuke said.

'Good,' Rin replied, 'but just so you know, I don't think you can learn certain things just by being taught by others.'

Ryosuke said nothing to that.

'I think,' Rin continued, 'that you should try and find yourself a quiet road on which to practice by yourself.'

'That's not very safe though, is it?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Not really,' Rin admitted, 'but if you're on your own and you have an accident, you'll only hurt yourself.'

Ryosuke failed to see how that was a good thing but, deciding to humour him, he said:

'You're saying that I should get my car on an empty road and practice driving there.'

'Exactly,' Rin replied, 'start with easy stuff like throttle and brake control and general handling of the car until you feel confident enough.'

'I see,' Ryosuke said.

'After you do that,' Rin continued, 'you should try finding your own limits as well as those of your car.'

'Why would I want to do that?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Because only when you know your limits, you can figure out how to overcome them,' Rin explained.

'That makes sense to me,' Ryosuke commented.

'I'm glad it does,' Rin replied then, he added, 'let me know once you think you've improved enough.'

'Why?' Ryosuke asked.

'Because, if you want, I'll introduce you to some people who also like cars and who might find you as interesting as I do,' Rin said offering him a smile which made Ryosuke feel weird all over again.

'Alright,' he forced himself to reply.

Somehow they made it to the end of the meal with Ryosuke feeling more confused than ever. He was also grateful that Kaori had not spoken another word during the rest of their time together but he still found it unnerving the way she looked at him, almost as if he were some sort of project. Rin, on the other hand, had given Ryosuke a lot of food for thought and while they walked back to the campus, he started thinking of potential places where he could go to start practicing, he decided that he'd go exploring that very evening.

'It's been great talking to you,' Rin told him as soon as they arrived to the main building.

'Same here,' Ryosuke replied, 'and thank you very much for the meal.'

'No worries,' Rin said.

'Takahashi-kun,' Kaori suddenly said, 'I hope I didn't offend you with my questions.'

'Of course not,' Ryosuke hurried to reply.

'That's good to hear,' she said offering him a smile, 'Hojo-san is right though, sometimes I'm a little scary.'

'Not at all,' Ryosuke tried to reassure her.

'You should get going,' Rin told them, 'or you two will be late for your afternoon lectures.'

'Yes,' Kaori said then, to Ryosuke, she added, 'I'll see you around. Maybe we can grab a cup of coffee later.'

Ryosuke felt his eyes darting towards Rin then, he looked at Kaori and, as firmly as he could, he said:

'Sure, please let me know whenever you and Hojo-senpai are free.'

'We will,' Rin promised.

'Perfect,' Ryosuke said.

He noticed Kaori's disappointed expression and that made him walk away from the couple as fast as he could without looking like he was in a hurry. Then, as soon as he made it into the building, he increased his pace until he found himself in front of the anatomy laboratory where the first years were about to start their very first lecture on the subject. Ryosuke was about to open the door to step inside when, coming from behind him, he heard someone calling his name.

'Yes?' he turned round to see a short bespectacled young guy.

'I'm Yamashita Tatsuro,' the guy replied, 'I'm also in the first year.'

'Nice to meet you,' Ryosuke said.

'Listen,' Tatsuro said, 'I've seen you talking to Hojo-senpai,' he stopped speaking as if he were trying to gather enough courage to say what he said next, 'I hope you won't take this the wrong way but, I think it's weird.'

'Weird?' Ryosuke asked.

'Yes,' Tatsuro replied, 'with you being who you are and he being who he is, it's weird you'd be friends.'

'What exactly are you talking about?' Ryosuke asked using a neutral tone of voice.

'You're the heir of the Takahashi Medical Group,' Tatsuro said, 'and Hojo-senpai is the heir of the Katagiri Hospital Consortium, I read on the Japanese Journal of Medicine that they're one of your main competitors.'

Ryosuke was shocked in so many levels that it took him a couple of seconds to come up with a reply:

'Hojo-senpai just took me out for lunch,' he explained, 'we're not friends.'

'Ah,' Tatsuro said, 'that's weird though.'

'What is?' Ryosuke asked doing his utmost to be patient.

'He's not one who…how should I put it?' Tatsuro asked himself, 'he doesn't usually interact with his kohai.'

'He doesn't?' Ryosuke asked.

'Nope,' the guy replied, he then frowned and said, 'you don't really know much about him, do you?'

'I've just met him,' Ryosuke admitted and, in an attempt to stop the conversation, he said, 'I'm sorry but I've got to go.'

'I know,' Tatsuro said, 'I'm also enrolled in this class.'

Ryosuke bit his tongue to refrain himself from saying something like, 'lucky me.' Instead, he just walked into the laboratory followed by Tatsuro who, to Ryosuke's annoyance, decided to take the seat right next to his. Unfortunately, the arrival of their lecturer prevented him from finding a good reason to swap places and, because of this, Ryosuke saw himself being paired with Tatsuo to be lab partners for the rest of the term.

With everything that had happened to him in the past hour, Ryosuke found it harder to concentrate on the lesson than it should have been. Thankfully, the lecturer wasn't set on explaining anything incredibly advanced and limited himself with telling them which part of the curriculum would be covered during that semester and the scoring system he liked using to determine their final marks. Since it wasn't exactly rocket science, Ryosuke decided to use the part of his brain which wasn't paying attention to the lecturer to start trying to put some order into his very confused thoughts.

He continued this process when the lesson finished and, after politely declining Tatsuro's offer to 'hang out,' Ryosuke rushed to his FC, eager to get behind its steering wheel as quickly as he could. Starting up the engine, he let himself be soothed by the 13B's purr and only when he calmed his nerves a bit, he decided he was ready to drive home. During the way, he started enumerating the too many questions which needed an answer, beginning with the most simple of them all: what did Rin Hojo want from him?

Ryosuke could flatter himself and think that the guy was genuinely attracted by the FC but something told him that Rin was used to seeing sports cars all the time and he doubted that his all-stock car would be anything special to someone like him. He also wanted to know if Rin was aware of his identity; yet again, his instinct told him that the older man knew exactly who he was talking to and didn't really mind at all. Then there was the issue of Rin's fiancée: that Kaori girl had definitely thrown him off balance.

Never before in his life he had encountered a person who could read him as accurately as the girl did and, in all honesty, he hadn't enjoyed the experience. He blamed it on the fact that, believing himself safe, he had let his guard down way too much but, the next time, if there was one, he would be much better prepared: he would not let her trick him into answering any seemingly harmless questions and would wear the same poker face mask he'd worn for the past three years and which made him virtually unreadable to everybody.

Much later that evening when his parents had finally gone to sleep, Ryosuke grabbed the FC's keys and, for the first time in his life, he went out without telling anyone where he was going. When he stepped into the garage, he saw that he wasn't the only one with that idea and would have laughed seeing Keisuke's startled expression finding his older brother there but then Ryosuke noticed something which stunned him instead.

'What…' he started, he stopped and tried again, 'what the heck have you done to your hair?'

'You like it?' Keisuke asked shaking his head which was now covered with bleached spikes.

'Why did you do that?' Ryosuke asked him fighting to keep a reasonably calm tone of voice.

Keisuke refused to answer the question.

'What about school?' Ryosuke asked him next, 'and will our parents say when they see you?'

'Those old geezers won't care,' Keisuke finally said, 'and as per school, I've already spoken to the Principal.'

'You have?'

'Yes,' Keisuke said, he smirked and added, 'I've made him an offer he couldn't refuse.'

'Keisuke…'

'Aniki, chill,' Keisuke told him, 'I simply said that if he doesn't break my balls about my hair or, basically anything else, I'll go to school every day like a good boy and I won't cause any trouble so he doesn't have to ruin his image of Mr Perfect Principal in front of the parental units. It was rather moving to see how happy he was.'

'Keisuke…'

'Mind you,' he continued, looking, if possible, even naughtier, 'I didn't tell him that this year I have an extra incentive to show up at school every day.'

'What is that?' Ryosuke was almost afraid to ask.

'There's a very cute girl in the first year,' Keisuke said, 'I'm thinking of asking her out one of these days.'

'Keisuke,' Ryosuke felt the need to say, 'I kind of wish you found yourself another reason to go to school.'

'Aniki, I thought you'd be happy,' Keisuke said, 'I'm going to do exactly what you asked me to.'

'Are you?' Ryosuke asked him sceptically.

'Yeah,' Keisuke replied, 'I'll go to school every day, I'll study as hard as I can to keep the parents off my case and I'll behave myself so that I don't cause any trouble while I'm at school. That's pretty cool of me, don't you think?'

'I guess,' Ryosuke replied not sounding too convinced.

'Anyway,' Keisuke said changing topic, 'are you going out?'

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied.

'Really?' Keisuke asked not hiding his surprise.

'Yes,' Ryosuke repeated, this time smiling a little.

'Where are you going?' Keisuke asked him.

'For a drive,' Ryosuke replied, 'I want to get some practice with the car.'

'Right,' Keisuke said, 'where are you going to go for that?'

'I don't know yet,' Ryosuke replied, 'why?'

'Well,' Keisuke said, 'wherever you go, stay away from the industrial area tonight.'

'Why?' Ryosuke asked him, his smile replaced by a worried frown, 'what's going to happen there?'

'Nothing major,' Keisuke replied.

'Keisuke…'

'It's just a bunch of losers who have stepped into our territory,' Keisuke explained, 'we just gotta tell them to get the hell out of here.'

'Keisuke,' Ryosuke said, 'I don't want you to get into a fight or…'

'Aniki, chill, alright?' Keisuke stopped him, 'there won't be any fight if they're smart enough.'

'And if they're not?'

'Well,' Keisuke said getting serious too, 'then we'll have to show them who the boss is.'

'I don't think that's a good idea,' Ryosuke insisted, 'why don't you come with me instead?'

'No way,' Keisuke replied, 'Aniki, I'm their leader, how bad would it look for my group if I didn't show up?'

'But…'

'Aniki, I'll be fine,' Keisuke reassured him grabbing his helmet, 'don't worry about me, okay?'

Without waiting for an answer, he put his helmet on, got onto his motorbike taking off with it an instant later.

'You're asking the impossible,' Ryosuke muttered while he watched the back of the Honda.

Doing his best to recover from the umpteenth shock of that day, he tightened his grip on the FC's key while he forced himself to remember what had brought him to the garage in the first place. Taking a deep breath, he unlocked the driver's side door and, climbing into the car he leant his head against the seat's headrest, closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind from all thoughts which could potentially upset his peace of mind, starting with the conversation he'd just had with his younger brother.

Takayuki was right, Ryosuke decided. He probably smothered Keisuke too much when, in all honesty, it did seem like his little brother could very well take care of himself. That thought made him feel a little lonely.

Pushing aside that feeling, he turned the engine on, he drove his car out of the garage and, pressing the button on the tiny remote, he closed the gate behind him. He then took the FC all the way down to the street and, once there, he started driving aimlessly around the residential area where he'd lived his whole life deciding to let the Mazda take him wherever it wanted to go. He was only mildly surprised when, twenty five minutes later, he found himself cruising up the Mt Akagi's pass.

Ryosuke had covered that road a few times with his father and even with the school's bus as they travelled all the way up Ono Lake for their annual science trip but, now that he thought of it, it was the first time he drove up the pass at night. Instead of finding it spooky, he felt that the environment which surrounded the pass rather suited his current mental state for, right now, he craved the tranquillity and solitude the road provided him with and the further up he drove, the more relaxed he felt.

By the time he reached the summit, Ryosuke had also reached the peak of his concentration.

Turning the car round, he started driving it downhill very slowly at first. He wanted to make sure he kept control of the car at all times and he used the first few turns to start practicing his breaking and accelerating. He experimented how much pressure he needed to apply to the pedals before he pushed it too much or too little, always keeping a low enough speed so that, if things got out of hand, he could stop before the FC would go anywhere near the wall or the guardrail.

This timid exploration lasted for quite a few runs and it wasn't until he had completed the course five times that he felt confident enough to start driving reasonably fast. He climbed uphill while travelling at around sixty percent of what he predicted the car could give him, finding it very interesting how he had to proportionally increase his reaction times in everything he did. He also noticed how, the fastest he went, the more efficient the car seemed to become, almost as if the engine itself was telling him to push it further.

Getting to the steeper part of the road, Ryosuke started trying to work out how late and how little he could brake before getting to a corner and the gear which would keep the rev count high enough for the engine to maintain a constant push as the FC climbed up the hill. He had just exited a left-hander feeling particularly proud of the way the FC had gone around it and, he was about to aim for the following right-hand turn when he heard the sound of an engine and, immediately after that, he saw the headlights of a car which was driving towards him at a very high speed.

Slowing down as much as he could without stalling the engine, Ryosuke had just about enough time to realise that there were two cars coming his way and, even more importantly, they seemed to be racing each other. This fact, together with his innate self-preservation, made him pull over to the side of the road stopping the FC just as the two cars flew by his Mazda. Feeling his arms and legs trembling with equal parts of fear as well as excitement, he glanced at the rear view mirror and said:

'What on earth was that?'

_To be continued…_


	4. Chapter Three

A/N: Well guys, I'm glad you're liking this story too. ^_^ Also, in this chapter, you guys get some cars (I hope you approve of my choices…) and the first glimpses of racing. Sorry to keep you waiting! :p

As always, thanks for reading.

**Planetarium**

_Chapter Three_

The following morning, Ryosuke woke up as usual: five minutes before the alarm clock would go off at seven o'clock in the morning but, contrary to what he did every day, he didn't get out of bed the instant his eyes were open. Instead, he stayed in bed, letting his mind replay what had happened just a few hours before.

Ryosuke knew it had taken him less than half a minute to re-start the engine and turn the car round so that it'd face downhill. He was also certain that he had driven the FC as fast as he dared in pursue of the two racing cars and yet, he had failed to catch up with them. It was that, more than anything else, which made it painfully obvious to him that he still had a long way to go before he could even think of replicating the four-wheel inertia drift he'd seen that day at the Gunma Cycle Sports Centre.

Sitting up on his bed, he brushed his hair with his hands and that gesture reminded him of Keisuke's new hairstyle, he wondered if their parents had already seen it but since he hadn't heard any angry shouting, he guessed Doctor Takahashi was still unaware of his youngest son's latest mischief. Just in case, Ryosuke decided to get up, take a quick shower and get dressed so that he could go down to the breakfast room.

'Good morning, Mother,' he said.

'Good morning, son,' Kinue replied sipping a bit of her morning tea.

'Is Father up yet?' he asked while the housemaid poured him some of the very strong coffee he liked.

'He left very early this morning,' Kinue explained, 'he's going to be away for a couple of days.'

'Ah,' Ryosuke said, 'I didn't know that.'

'Neither did I,' Kinue said, 'he informed me last night. It was one of his last-minute decisions.'

'Is everything alright?' Ryosuke asked her.

'I think so,' his mother replied, 'but you know your father never tells me anything from his business.'

Ryosuke didn't say anything to that, instead, he asked:

'Mother, do you know anything about the Hojo family?'

'Hojo?' Kinue asked, Ryosuke nodded and she looked like she was concentrating then, she seemed to remember and said, 'yes, they're the owners of the Katagiri Hospital Consortium. The mother of the family is the chair of the Kanagawa section of the Kanto Children's Charity, she's attended a few of our meetings here in Gunma too.'

'What can you tell me of their son?' Ryosuke asked her sounding as casual as he could.

'Not much, I'm afraid,' Kinue replied, 'all I know is that he's also studying to take over his father's business.'

'I know that already,' Ryosuke told her, 'he's in his fourth year at Gunma University.'

'Oh,' Kinue gasped putting down her cup of tea, 'that's your university too, isn't it?'

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied, 'Hojo-senpai and I met yesterday.'

This time, it was his mother who didn't say anything.

'Mother,' Ryosuke said, 'do you think I should befriend someone like the son of the Hojo family?'

'Why not?' Kinue asked him.

'Wouldn't it upset Father if I did?' Ryosuke asked, 'after all, the Katagiri group is always a competitor.'

'Son,' Kinue said looking very serious, 'you know I'm not very knowledgeable about your father's business…'

'I know that,' Ryosuke interrupted her, 'but…'

'…however,' his mother continued, 'you would do well to remember that while it's good to keep your friends close…'

'…it's better to keep my enemies closer,' Ryosuke finished for her.

'Exactly,' the woman replied smiling at him proudly, 'now, finish your breakfast or you'll be late.'

'Yes, Mother,' Ryosuke said then, remembering about his younger brother, he added, 'Mother, there's something you should know, it's about Keisuke...he's, well, he's changed his appearance quite drastically.'

'I know,' was Kinue's shocking reply, it was even more surprising seeing her lack of reaction.

'Mother,' Ryosuke said, 'he's young and…'

'Son,' Kinue stopped him, 'neither your father nor I expect much from Keisuke anymore. He's still our son and we will always care about him the same way we care about you, but we know that he's not like you.'

'Mother…'

'Don't worry about him anymore,' she told him, 'now, do please eat your breakfast.'

Faced with a rare order from his mother, Ryosuke decided to comply without arguing his point any further but, while he drove his FC to campus, he thought that it was simply unacceptable the way his parents had given up on Keisuke. He found it even more upsetting because he knew about Keisuke's immense potential, he just needed something which would make him focus and Ryosuke was prepared to wait until he found it.

Arriving at the parking area reserved to the students, Ryosuke left the FC on the same spot where he'd parked it the day before and, making sure the doors were all locked, he walked towards the main building.

'Good morning!' a cheerful voice startled him.

'Er…good morning, Kaori-san,' Ryosuke replied turning round to look at her.

'How are you?' Kaori asked him.

'I'm fine,' Ryosuke replied.

'Really?' Kaori asked looking a little sceptical, 'you seem to be worried about something.'

'I'm fine,' Ryosuke insisted.

'Okay,' Kaori said clearly humouring him, 'what are you doing today?'

'Er…' Ryosuke hesitated, 'I have double physics in the morning and then I'll have English in the afternoon.'

'You already speak English, don't you?' Kaori asked him.

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied silently wondering how she could possibly know that.

'Why don't you skip the lesson then?' Kaori asked him, 'since I'm free, we could go for a drive with your car.'

'You're not free, Kaori-san,' Ryosuke pointed out.

'Yes, I am,' Kaori countered, 'my afternoon's lecture has been cancelled because the…'

'That's not what I meant,' Ryosuke interrupted her, 'I'm going now, please send my regards to Hojo-senpai.'

With that and before Kaori could even reply, Ryosuke rushed up the stairs being fully aware that he was both running away from her as well as being horribly rude to someone who was a year ahead of him and therefore deserved some respect. Ryosuke forced himself to forget about his manners and pay attention to his inner voice which, by the way, was now screaming at him to get away from that girl as fast as he could.

Thankfully, Ryosuke didn't see Kaori for the rest of the morning and, to ensure he would not run into her, he even accepted Tatsuro's invitation to join him and a few of their other classmates at the cafeteria. There, he munched a chicken sandwich while he listened to the meaningless conversations his fellow first years were having. Right at that moment, they were talking about the increasing unemployment figures in the health care field.

'What do you thing about that, Takahashi?' one of them asked him.

'I don't really have an opinion on the matter,' Ryosuke replied.

'He doesn't need to worry about it,' Tatsuro said.

'What do you mean?' the first student asked.

'He's going to do his residency at his father's hospital,' Tatsuro explained.

'How lucky!' another of the classmates said looking very jealous, 'I wish I had it so easy…'

Ryosuke refused to grace such impolite remark with a comment and instead, he used his poker face and continued eating in silence, feeling only too happy when, at long last, he was able to leave the table without being rude. He then made his way to the library, deciding he would spend there the rest of the time he had before his Advanced English lesson.

'Hey, Takahashi-kun!' he heard Rin's voice coming from somewhere down the corridor, 'wait up!'

Stopping right where he was, he turned round feeling his heart racing in trepidation. He even let out a sigh of relief seeing that Rin was walking towards him and that fortunately, Kaori was nowhere to be seen.

'Good afternoon,' Ryosuke told him the moment Rin got to where he was.

'Where were you?' Rin asked him then, without waiting for an answer, he added, 'we waited for you.'

'We?' Ryosuke asked.

'Kaori and I,' Rin explained, 'we waited for you to see if you would come for lunch with us today too.'

'Ah,' Ryosuke said, 'I'm sorry about that, I…'

'It doesn't matter,' Rin interrupted him, his kind smile returning to his face.

'Where's Kaori-san?' Ryosuke asked before he could stop himself.

'Why?' Rin asked him back.

'Er…no reason, I…I just…'

'I know,' Rin said, 'I know how she makes you feel.'

'What?' Ryosuke half-gasped.

'People always feel slightly freaked out by her,' Rin explained and Ryosuke felt his heartbeats re-starting, 'she's harmless really, but the way she goes guessing people's feelings and emotions makes everyone feel wary around her. I've told her to stop doing that but she won't pay attention, I only hope she'll start listening to me once we're married.'

Ryosuke brought himself to nod to that.

'Anyway,' Rin said, 'I wanted to ask you something…'

'I wanted to ask you something too,' Ryosuke said.

'Oh,' Rin gasped looking surprised, 'what is it?'

'You know who I am, right?' Ryosuke asked going straight to the point.

'Yes,' Rin replied grinning playfully, 'you're Takahashi Ryosuke, a very interesting guy.'

'Hojo-senpai…'

'Alright,' Rin said sobering up, 'I guess my trick didn't work as well as I thought it would.'

'Trick?' Ryosuke asked.

'I was hoping that you wouldn't figure out who I was until later,' Rin explained, 'but I guess you really are as smart as I hoped you would be and now I need to ask you if the fact that our parents are competing with each other at a professional level will make it difficult for you to see me as an acquaintance of yours, maybe even more than that.'

'More than that?' Ryosuke asked trying to keep an even tone of voice.

'A friend,' Rin said then, chuckling, he asked him, 'what did you think I meant?'

'Nothing,' Ryosuke hurried to reply then, quickly regaining his composure, he said, 'and the answer to your question is no, I won't have any problem seeing you as an acquaintance or even a friend, in fact, I'd be honoured to call you my friend, however, there's something I need to know: why are you interested in me?'

'Because we're very much alike,' Rin answered honestly, 'and because I have a hunch about you.'

'A hunch?' Ryosuke asked.

'Yes,' Rin said, 'I can't tell you what it is, I'm just hoping that I'll be right about it.'

Ryosuke was at a loss and didn't know what to say to that.

'Alright,' Rin continued looking relieved, 'now we've cleared this, did you think of what I told you yesterday?'

'I did,' Ryosuke replied, 'and I found the perfect road to get some practice.'

'Did you?' Rin asked him, 'where?'

'Mt Akagi's pass,' Ryosuke replied, 'the road that goes to Ono Lake.'

'Ah, I know that one,' Rin said, 'it's a difficult course, you should be careful there.'

'I know,' Ryosuke replied.

He then considered telling Rin about what he'd seen up there but, since he was sure that the race he'd seen the previous night was entirely illegal and thinking that a guy like Rin would probably frown at those things, he decided to keep the whole incident to himself.

'A yen for your thoughts,' Rin said taking him out of his reverie.

'You'd pay for nothing,' Ryosuke lied.

'If you say so,' Rin said, humouring him, 'personally, I'd say that brain of yours is always doing overtime.'

'Hojo-senpai…'

'In fact,' Rin continued, 'it's one of the many things in which I think we're similar.'

Ryosuke remained quiet.

'Oh,' Rin said taking look at his watch, 'it's already this late? I've got to dash or I'll be late!'

'Okay,' Ryosuke said.

'It's amazing how fast time goes by when you're having fun,' Rin commented cheerfully, 'but what a terrible example I'm setting to you as your senpai…'

'It's okay,' Ryosuke reassured him smiling a bit, 'it'll be our secret.'

'Deal,' Rin said, returning the smile, 'ah, don't forget to tell me whenever you think you're ready.'

'Ready?' Ryosuke asked.

'Your driving,' Rin explained, 'you might already have plans that day but on Sunday 26th there's an autocross event at the Kanetsu Sportsland circuit. I'm going to go there with a couple of mates and I thought you might…'

'I want to compete,' Ryosuke said firmly.

'Compete?' Rin said, 'who said anything about compete? I was asking you if you wanted to come to watch.'

'Hojo-senpai,' Ryosuke said resolutely, 'I want to enter the event.'

'It's only two weeks,' Rin said, 'it's way too early for you. It'd be better if we wait for the one next month.'

'But…'

'Don't be impatient,' Rin told him, 'driving is an art, if you rush it too much, the result won't be pretty.'

Ryosuke bit his tongue and, just as he did with his father, he nodded and accepted Rin's opinion.

'Don't worry,' Rin said, 'I know you're dying to push that FC of yours to its limits but, keep practicing on Mt Akagi, keep track of the times you're making now and once you start getting much faster than you are now, then you'll be ready.'

'You're right, Hojo-senpai,' Ryosuke said.

'Hey,' Rin said placing his hand onto his shoulder, 'I really do understand how you're feeling.'

'I know,' Ryosuke replied.

'You and I are so similar it's scary,' Rin said removing his hand, 'I'm happy we're going to be friends.'

He left right after that and as he watched Rin rushing his way to whichever lecture he was late for, Ryosuke thought that he too was happy to have found someone he could respect that wasn't his father. Maybe, at long last, he would have someone he could look up to and who would know how to push him to get better.

Taking a deep breath which filled him with brand new determination, Ryosuke walked to the library and, once there, he was happy to see a reasonably well assorted engineering section within the physics aisle where he found some volumes covering automotive engineering. Taking the first one of them, he sat down at a nearby table and started reading about the way different kinds of internal combustion engines worked.

For the following two weeks, Ryosuke's days became a photocopy of each other:

In the morning, he got up early and went to his lectures. He also met up with Rin as frequently as his senpai could. Ryosuke had figured out that Kaori was almost always busy right before lunchtime so he had conveniently found a way to bump into Rin around that time and always had an excuse ready to skip lunch, usually that he needed to go to the library to continue his research in automotive engineering.

Luckily, Rin never commented on the fact that he was very obviously avoiding his fiancée so Ryosuke never had to come up with an explanation for his odd behaviour. This gave him the tranquillity he needed for his nightly visits to Mt Akagi where, for at least a couple of hours every night, he tried coming up with the fastest possible way for his FC to go up and down the mountain's pass.

In spite of that and to his profound disappointment, he had yet to see another street race.

Ryosuke only broke his routine on the morning of Sunday 26th when, as he'd agreed with Rin, he drove to Iwasaki, just a few kilometres south of Takasaki. Rin had told him that he and his friends would wait for him at the train station's car park but since Ryosuke didn't feel like abusing their patience, he made sure he got to the meeting point with half an hour to spare before their appointment at ten o'clock.

Parking the FC he got the third volume of Advanced Engine Mechanics out of his bag and, picking up from where he left it off the previous night, he started reading while he waited for Rin and his friends to arrive and, less than twenty five minutes later, he saw three cars driving into the car park.

The one in the front was a Mazda and it looked like a thinner version of his own FC, Ryosuke had read enough about his car's make to know that the metallic red car was an SA22C otherwise known as FB and, judging by the wraparound taillights and the black rubber bands on its sides, it probably was one of the second or third series model.

The second vehicle was the one which caught Ryosuke's attention the most, not only because the car was very good looking but because of the aura it transmitted to him. He understood when, climbing out of his FC, Ryosuke saw that the driver of the silver Toyota Celica XX was no other but Rin Hojo. Ryosuke barely noticed the other car, a brand new black Honda Civic EG6 and, closing the FC's door, he made a beeline to the Toyota.

'Hey,' Rin greeted him, 'you're already here!'

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied, 'good morning, Hojo-senpai.'

'No senpai here,' Rin said, 'when we're here with our cars it's either Rin or Hojo, take your pick.'

'Alright,' Ryosuke agreed then, he glanced at Rin's car and asked him, 'that's a 2000GT; a GA61, isn't it?'

'You've done your homework,' one of Rin's friends, the tallest of the group said sounding impressed.

'I told you he was a good student,' Rin told him only half-joking.

'Kid, is that your ride over there?' the EG6's driver asked him pointing at the FC.

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied.

'And he's got good taste too,' the FB driver added.

'Takahashi,' a smiling Rin said, 'please meet my very uncivilised friends Nishihara Keita,' he was the one driving the Mazda, 'and Kuroki Junichi,' he was a short and chubby young man, 'guys, this is my friend Takahashi Ryosuke, he's a first year medical student.'

'Great way to treat your oldest mates,' Keita complained to Rin then, to Ryosuke, he said, 'it's always nice to meet fellow Mazda drivers, especially if they own a limited edition. How long have you had that gorgeous thing?'

'A bit less than a month,' Ryosuke admitted trying not to smile.

'It's as new as my EG6,' Junichi commented.

Ryosuke nodded not knowing what else to do.

'We're going to be late,' Rin said, 'we'll have all the time in the world to talk about cars during the event.'

'Yes, boss,' Keita replied playfully.

'Alright,' Rin said plainly ignoring Keita and, glancing at Ryosuke, he said, 'the Kanetsu circuit is just around the corner from here but, just in case, we'll go slowly so you can follow us, okay?'

'Sure,' Ryosuke replied.

Less than a minute later, he was back in the FC following Rin's GA61 while Keita's FB and Junichi's EG6 disappeared in the distance making it obvious that they hadn't fully grasped the whole 'going slowly' concept. This didn't bother Ryosuke at all, even less because they made it to the circuit less then a couple of minutes later and, what he found there, was enough for him to forget about everything else. At the track's parking area, there were over two dozen cars, old and new, from several makes and models all driven by guys of all ages, some of which were wearing racing suits making Ryosuke think that they were professionals.

'They are professional drivers,' Rin said as if he'd been reading his mind.

'Really?' Ryosuke asked him, too in awe to feel freaked out.

'Of course,' Keita said joining them, 'they come here to keep themselves on edge during the off-season.'

'But that's unfair,' Ryosuke pointed out.

'Unfair?' Junichi asked.

'Yes,' Ryosuke said, 'racing against a professional driver is…'

He never got to finish the sentence because, just then, one of the racing suit clad guys noticed them and started walking towards them followed by a few of his own friends. The guy in question looked to be at least forty five years old and he made it straight to where Rin said and, with a huge smile on his face, he said:

'What a relief! I thought you wouldn't show up today.'

'I almost didn't,' Rin confessed, 'but my friend here made me change my mind.'

Ryosuke noticed that Rin was talking about him and that made him feel suddenly nervous.

'Hey,' the professional racer said, 'what's your name?'

'I'm Takahashi Ryosuke, sir,' he replied politely.

'I'm Hasemi Masahiro,' the man replied smiling at him in a fatherly way, 'how old are you, son?'

'I'm eighteen,' Ryosuke replied, 'I'll be nineteen in less than a month.'

'What I'd do to be so young again,' Masahiro commented with a soft laugh, 'maybe I wouldn't have to think of retiring.'

'Retiring?' Rin asked with a chuckle, 'Hasemi-san please, don't joke like that.'

'That's right,' Keita intervened, 'you've just won the JTCC title, again.'

'And you'll win this year's too,' Junichi added.

'With this kind of support,' Masahiro said smiling at the three guys, 'I'm sure I will.'

'Of course you will,' Rin insisted.

'But you know,' Masahiro told him, 'if you told me you were going to go pro, then I would probably retire for real.'

'That's hardly a good incentive for me, is it?' Rin countered with a smirk.

'You're so insolent,' Masahiro complained but he was visibly joking, 'anyway, try not to beat me today.'

'I'll do my best,' Rin promised.

'That's what I'm afraid of,' Masahiro said before he left with his small group of friends.

Ryosuke waited until they were gone to glance at Rin and, trying not to sound like a fanboy, he said:

'You've beaten the current JTCC champion?'

Rin didn't reply to that, instead, he gave him an enigmatic smile which could have meant anything.

'Let's go,' he said speaking to his friends, 'you,' he added talking to Ryosuke, 'can go and seat there.'

He was pointing at a tiny grandstand, even smaller than the one at the Gunma Cycle Sports Centre and, before Ryosuke had the time to articulate some sort of protest, he saw Rin and Junichi walking to their cars. Keita had already gone ahead and his FB was already driving towards a queue formed by nine different cars. Ryosuke decided to walk up to the nearly empty grandstand and, choosing a seat at the topmost row, he sat down.

At exactly half past ten in the morning, the first few cars started being allowed onto the track and soon Ryosuke figured out what this autocross event involved: one after one, the drivers would launch their cars around the track for a series of laps, one or two of which, he guessed, would be timed. There were nearly thirty cars competing and it took a while until he saw the car he had been looking forward to seeing in action.

The silver GA61 followed a much newer brilliant yellow Toyota MR2 SW20 and while the car proceeded around the short track as fast as its driver could push it, Ryosuke ignored it and waited until the marshal signalled for Rin to start his run. Swallowing his impatience, he watched the GA61 as it picked up speed and, seeing the way the car was taken around the first corner of the track made Ryosuke feel grateful he was sitting down.

'Wow,' he gasped in awe.

Three laps later Rin's GA61 was little more than a blur. Ryosuke could barely keep up with the car but could see enough to come up with two alarming conclusions. One, Rin was as aggressive behind the wheel as he was calm outside his car and; two, the current JTCC champion had every right to be afraid of Rin: his, was the fastest time clocked in that morning.

'He's done it again,' Ryosuke heard Keita's voice all of a sudden.

Looking down, he saw Rin's friend walking towards him on his own.

'Can I?' Keita asked him pointing at the empty seat next to Ryosuke.

'Of course,' he replied, he waited until Keita was sitting down to ask, 'what did you mean by that?'

'Rin doesn't know how to dose himself,' Keita replied.

'Is that a bad thing?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Not really,' Keita replied, 'but you should always save some strength instead of going full out, at least that's what I think.'

'It makes sense,' Ryosuke said.

'It does if you're not Rin,' Keita said, 'that guy can always pull something extra from goodness knows where.'

Ryosuke didn't know what to say to that but then the appearance of a heavily modified dark green Skyline HR31 GTS caused such a commotion among the few spectators present there that he had to ask Keita:

'That's Hasemi-san, isn't he?'

'Yes,' Keita said then, smiling at him, he said, 'Rin's right: you are a really bright kid.'

Once again, a slightly embarrassed Ryosuke remained silent.

Together they watched the Nissan going around the track as fast as its old driver dared to take it. Ryosuke's keen eyes noticed the slight differences between the way this car went around the corners and the line that other, less experienced drivers had been taking. In his head, he started thinking that there was something intrinsically different in the way one could drive a car that made a huge difference in terms of sheer speed.

Trying to pay his utmost attention at the following corner, Ryosuke saw that the HR31 darted towards its entry going alarmingly wide into the turn then, after the slightest of pauses, the car just closed towards the apex and as though as some sort of force was pulling the car, the Nissan made it out of the right-hander. It was as beautifully performed as that FC's drift and it made Ryosuke feel the same thrill.

'Now,' Keita said, 'that's what I call cornering.'

'Yes,' Ryosuke agreed.

'Don't tell Rin I said this,' Keita said, 'but, while he's probably faster, Hasemi-san's got a lot more class.'

'He's also more experienced,' Ryosuke pointed out feeling like he had to defend his senpai.

'Experience isn't everything,' Keita countered, 'there are different types of drivers, some are neat and some are not. Hasemi-san is from the first kind, Rin is from the second. I personally prefer Hasemi-san's style.'

'Nishihara-san,' Ryosuke said, 'I thought Hojo-san was your friend.'

'He is my best friend,' Keita confirmed, 'which is why I can criticise him.'

Ryosuke didn't agree nor disagree with that comment, instead, he reflected on what Keita had just said. If he wanted to be honest with himself, he too preferred the professional racer's neater style and, even though Rin was as fast as hell, Ryosuke felt that using Rin's highly aggressive style wouldn't suit his personality at all. No, Ryosuke decided he preferred Masahiro's calmer yet deadly effective style.

By the time the event finished, with Rin Hojo topping the scoreboards in his car's category, beating the HR31 by nearly three seconds, Ryosuke had learned a lot about the autocross business from what Keita had told him. The monthly event was essentially open to everyone who had a car and enough money to fix it if it broke down. The cars were then classified in different categories, according to whether they had been modified or not. There were other regulations in place like the maximum number of laps allowed but what bothered Ryosuke the most was the fact that, since his FC was all-stock, he could never compete with Rin's highly modified GA61.

'It's a pity,' Rin himself told him.

'No,' Ryosuke said, 'there's no way I can keep up with you the way I drive now.'

'Give yourself some time,' Rin advised him.

Time. He would need to invest a lot more of that if he wanted to get faster. After seeing what he'd seen that day, Ryosuke knew that his tiny progresses at Mt Akagi were entirely negligible when compared to the highly advanced techniques he'd seen today. He had so much work to do that it wasn't even funny and because of this he decided to increase his practice time from two to four hours.

When he parted ways with Rin and his friends, after they made him promise that he'd join them at the next event at the end of May, Ryosuke drove his FC all the way to home and after parking it in the garage he took his Advanced Engine Mechanics book in his hand and went into the house. He was taking his shoes off when he saw his mother walking down the corridor with a very severe expression on her aged but still beautiful face.

'What's wrong, Mother?' he asked her while he put his slippers on.

'That's what your father and I would like to know,' Kinue said looking dead serious.

'Mother…'

'Ryosuke,' she interrupted him, 'come on in, your father wants to talk to you.'

For the first time in his life, Ryosuke understood what Keisuke felt whenever he had got himself in trouble.

_To be continued…_


	5. Chapter Four

**Planetarium**

_Chapter Four_

Following his mother into the living room, Ryosuke found his father sitting down on one of the black leather sofas, legs crossed and reading what looked to be the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Seeing his son, the doctor put the magazine down onto the marble-covered table in front of him and, with an icy tone of voice, he ordered him to:

'Sit down.'

Ryosuke complied immediately and, taking a seat on the couch in front of his father, he waited in silence while his mother sat down next to her husband's. He saw that his father had not stopped staring at him with a disapproving expression on his always strict looking face.

'I'm frankly disappointed,' the man finally started, 'I know you're in university and that you've met new people who might have made a certain impression on you and who might be making you change your previous lifestyle but, to be honest, I'm worried that lately you've been keeping the wrong sort of company.'

Ryosuke was so in shock that he didn't even know what to say.

'I know that you're growing up,' his father continued, 'and you probably want to experience new things…'

'Father,' Ryosuke finally found his voice, 'I'm sorry to say this but, I don't understand what you're saying.'

'Where have you been all day today?' Doctor Takahashi asked him.

'I went to an autocross event in Iwasaki,' Ryosuke replied firmly.

'Auto-what?' his father asked.

'Autocross,' Ryosuke repeated, 'it's a motorsports discipline for amateur drivers.'

This time, it was his father who didn't know what to say but, predictably, he recovered very quickly:

'Who did you go with?'

'Hojo-senpai and a couple of his friends,' Ryosuke replied.

'Hojo?' the doctor asked then, looking at his wife, he asked her, 'is that the same Hojo kid you mentioned?'

'Yes, dear,' Kinue replied.

'Ah,' he said, 'have you become friends with him?' he then asked his son.

'No…well, yes, in a way,' Ryosuke replied.

'Explain yourself,' his father ordered him.

'I'm not sure if we're friends yet,' Ryosuke hurried to say, 'we're just…we're getting to know each other.'

'I see,' the doctor said.

'Is that going to be a problem, Father?' Ryosuke asked him.

'No,' his father replied, 'not at all. In fact, I'm glad you two met without us needing to meddle.'

'Why is that, Father?' Ryosuke asked trying to hide his curiosity by sounding as casual as possible.

'Well,' Sousuke said, 'if you two become friends, things might be easier for a future merger.'

'A merger?' Ryosuke asked.

'It's nothing for you to worry about just yet,' the father said before changing topic, 'now, this explains where you've been today but, your mother has informed me that the house staff has heard you leaving at night and coming back in very late every single day of the past few weeks. How can you explain that?'

'I've been out driving,' Ryosuke replied, 'I need to practice with the car in order to enter an autocross event.'

'Why would you want to do that?' Doctor Takahashi asked him.

'I…I…'

'Is it a new hobby of yours?' his mother asked him with the sort of diplomacy her upbringing had given her.

'Yes,' Ryosuke reluctantly admitted, 'it's just a hobby.'

'Ah, I see,' the doctor said, 'is Hojo also involved in this autocross business?'

'Yes, he is,' Ryosuke replied, 'he's the one who introduced me to it.'

'I see,' the man repeated.

'Father, I…'

'What's that thing you're carrying?' his father interrupted him.

'It's nothing important,' Ryosuke replied, 'just a book about engines that I borrowed at the library, I'm trying to learn as much as I can about the way my car works and, during some my spare time, I've been doing some light reading on the subject.'

He then waited for his father to ask him to stop wasting his energies on that, instead, the man said:

'That's good.'

'Is it really?' Ryosuke dared to ask.

'Of course,' the father replied, 'even if it's just a hobby, you should still do your best.'

'Yes, Father,' Ryosuke said feeling a little relieved.

'To be honest,' the man said, 'I'm just happy to hear that you're not out clubbing or doing whatever it is that Keisuke does with his time. However,' he added before Ryosuke could even think of defending his brother, 'there are a few things you need to promise me if you want me to help you finance this new hobby of yours.'

'Of course,' Ryosuke said.

'First of all,' Doctor Takahashi said, 'you need to make sure you stay at the top of the scoreboard in your year, anything lower than that will be unacceptable. Secondly, until further notice, you and Hojo will never discuss anything business related.'

'We don't,' Ryosuke reassured him, 'we only ever talk about cars and some of our lectures, nothing else.'

'Perfect,' the man said looking happy.

Ryosuke thought that their conversation was over when, out of the blue, his father said:

'There's one more thing I need you to promise.'

'What is it, Father?' Ryosuke asked.

'As you know,' the man said, 'after you finish your four years at medical school, you'll have to do your two years of residency at our hospital and, as a policy, we require all members of our medical staff to make themselves available around the clock and we can't have you wasting your time with meaningless hobbies. You know what I mean by that, don't you?'

'Of course, Father,' Ryosuke replied feeling suddenly very cold.

'I'm glad we still understand each other,' the man said.

'Father…'

'You might go to your room now,' he said and, this time, their conversation really was over.

While he made his way up the stairs, Ryosuke started replaying his father's words one by one hoping that the conclusion he had reached was somehow wrong because, unless he had severely misunderstood the message, his father had just set a expiry date to his less than a month old racing enterprise: four years. Not even that, Ryosuke realised, with most of April already gone, he only had three years and eleven months before the start of his residency.

Opening the door to his bedroom, he dropped the book onto the desk and, checking the time in his alarm clock, he saw that it was still way too early to go to Mt Akagi. Ryosuke grabbed his Advanced Biochemistry book and started reading the chapter on the molecular structure of the two most common nucleic acids, hoping that by doing that, he would keep his mind off things like petrol, braking pads, valves, injectors and sparkplugs. Needless to say, he gave up less than half an hour later.

Placing the book back onto his desk, next to the Advanced Engine Mechanics one, Ryosuke let himself lean against his chair and, closing his eyes, he let himself relive the moment when he had seen the HR31 going around the corner with such mastery that he found himself shivering even hours after. Analysing the entire manoeuvre, Ryosuke couldn't find a single flaw in it.

He knew that, at forty seven, Hasemi Masahiro had had decades to hone his skills and it really showed: his control over his car was absolute and Ryosuke realised then how difficult it would be for him to reach that level of proficiency, even more so considering he wasn't going to be allowed such a long period of time. Four mere years, that's all he had to try and master the art of driving as fast as one could.

Opening his eyes, Ryosuke decided to forget about his medical studies and, getting back up, he decided that since it was nearly eleven o'clock in the evening, the pass would probably be empty now. Walking out of the room, he rushed towards the garage, happy to see that both of his parents had already retired for the night and less than twenty five minutes later he found himself cruising up Mt Akagi.

Ryosuke only returned home quite a few hours after that, when the FC went into reserve and not wanting to risk running out of petrol in the middle of nowhere, he decided to postpone the rest of what he his detailed training schedule for the following night. At any rate, he felt fairly confident that he had already found the fastest possible way around some of the road's most difficult corners.

In the morning and with only two hours of sleep in his biological clock, Ryosuke drove to school via the petrol station and, just as he was parking the FC at his usual spot at the student's car park, he saw Kaori walking towards him with a very determined expression on her beautiful face. Trapped and knowing that there would be no way to run from her, he got out of his car and prepared himself mentally to deal with the girl as swiftly as he possibly could.

'Good morning,' she said.

'Good morning, Kaori-san,' Ryosuke replied politely.

'You've been avoiding me,' she said going straight to the point.

'Er…'

'Don't deny it,' Kaori interrupted him, 'why are you doing it?'

Ryosuke refused to answer to the question.

'I think there's something you've misunderstood here,' she said.

'Kaori-san…'

'I don't have any romantic notions about you,' Kaori continued, 'I'm engaged to be married…'

'Precisely,' he interrupted her, 'you're engaged to be married and some of the things you've suggested have made me feel uncomfortable. I'm very grateful for everything Hojo-senpai has done for me and I…'

'…you don't want to ruin your friendship with him,' she finished for him, 'I understand that.'

'You do?' Ryosuke couldn't help but to ask.

'Of course I do,' Kaori replied, 'I care about Hojo-san too but I also want to be friends with you.'

'Friends,' Ryosuke said.

'Yes,' Kaori confirmed, 'just friends. You're a very interesting person and I want us to be friends.'

'Alright,' Ryosuke accepted, 'we can be friends.'

'Really?' Kaori said, a huge grin appearing on her face.

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied, 'however, I don't think we should meet up on our own without Hojo-senpai.'

'Why not?' Kaori asked, her grin gone.

'It's inappropriate,' Ryosuke replied firmly, 'and it makes me feel uncomfortable.'

Kaori looked like she wanted to protest then, probably changing her mind, she sighed and said:

'Alright, you win.'

'Thank you,' Ryosuke replied.

'There you are!' they then heard a familiar voice.

Startled, Ryosuke turned round to see Rin walking towards them, the man was looking straight at him.

'Good morning, Hojo-senpai,' he hurried to say.

'I've been looking forward to seeing you!' Rin told him without returning the greeting and clearly ignoring his fiancée.

Ryosuke found it odd how Kaori seemed to lose a little bit of her inner light but chose not to say anything about it.

'At what time will you be done with your lectures today?' Rin asked him.

'At four o'clock,' Ryosuke replied, 'why?'

'I have a surprise for you,' Rin said clearly refusing to elaborate.

'Alright,' Ryosuke said, 'we can meet right here if that suits you.'

'Sure,' Rin agreed, 'I'll see you then.'

'Okay,' Ryosuke replied.

'Come on, Kaori,' Rin added finally acknowledging his fiancée, 'we've got to go now.'

'Yes,' she simply said.

Just before she started walking after Rin, the girl turned round quickly giving Ryosuke such a longing look that it managed to confuse him so much he even started thinking he had imagined the entire 'let's just be friends' conversation. Pushing that disturbing thought aside, Ryosuke locked his car's door and went into the main building too.

At exactly four o'clock, he found Rin already waiting for him sitting on top of the Mazda's bonnet.

'Hey,' the man said getting up.

'I'm sorry to keep you waiting.'

'It's okay,' Rin told him, 'I just got here myself but we must hurry or we'll be late for our appointment.'

'Appointment?'

'You'll see what I mean shortly,' Rin said.

Knowing better than to try and interrogate him any further, Ryosuke just got onboard his car and, a few moments later, he found himself following the silver GA61 out of the campus area and very soon he figured out that Rin was taking them to the expressway. An hour and a half after that, Ryosuke followed Rin down the deceleration lane at the Nikko-South exit making him understand that wherever it is they were going to, it was in the Tochigi prefecture.

The two cars kept on driving for a few more minutes until they got to the entrance of the Nikko circuit near the homonymous city. Ryosuke had a hard time not to get distracted by the beautiful mountains that surrounded the area for it truly was a breathtaking view but soon, something else caught his attention: as they drove into the circuit's parking area, he saw that there were quite a few modified cars parked there and some more driving around the track in what looked to be some sort of amateur racing event.

'Why are we here, Hojo-senpai?' he asked Rin the moment they got out of their cars.

'I'd like you to meet someone,' Rin replied.

Feeling slightly frustrated with Rin's mysterious ways, Ryosuke just followed the man as they walked towards the small pitlane where they found a middle aged man dressed in dark blue mechanic's overalls talking to a few young guys, some of them looking even younger than Ryosuke himself. Seeing Rin there, the man stopped talking.

'Hey,' he said, 'you made it.'

'Sorry we're late,' Rin said speaking with a very polite tone of voice, 'how have you been Todou-san?'

'Not bad,' the man replied then, looking at Ryosuke, he added, 'is this the kid you told me about?'

'Yes,' Rin replied, 'I'd like to show him around, if you don't mind.'

'Of course not,' the man named Todou said, 'go ahead.'

'Thank you,' Rin said.

The man then resumed what Ryosuke understood was a lecture about different pedal control techniques and, as soon as he and Rin were out of the group's hearing range, he turned to his senpai and asked him:

'This is one of those racing schools you mentioned, isn't it?'

'Correct,' Rin confirmed, 'this is the Todou Juku Racing School,' he explained, 'that man I just talked to is an ex-professional driver, he set up this school a while ago and I thought we should come and check it out so I asked him to let me inspect the school with you.'

'Thank you,' Ryosuke said.

'Now…' he started only to stop speaking when he saw someone he obviously knew then, he said, 'I'll be right back.'

'Sure,' Ryosuke replied but Rin was already gone.

Being left there, standing in the middle of the small paddock on his own, made Ryosuke feel a little out of place but he didn't have the time to muse about it because, right then, while he watched Rin laughing and talking to a man he obviously was friends with, Ryosuke saw a very serious but young looking guy walking towards him with a fiercely determined expression on his face.

'Hey,' he said.

'Hello,' Ryosuke replied forcing himself to remember his manners.

'Todou-san just told me you might be enrolling in his school,' the guy said.

'Er…'

'What do you drive?' the guy asked him and, for some reason, Ryosuke started to find him a tad annoying.

'An FC3S,' he replied nevertheless.

'That one over there?' the guy said pointing at the white Mazda.

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied.

'It doesn't look very powerful,' the guy had the cheek to say.

'Who are you?' Ryosuke finally asked him.

'My name is Sudo Kyoichi,' the guy replied, 'and I'm one of the best students here.'

'Right,' Ryosuke said trying to not to sound too sceptic about it.

'Anyway,' Kyoichi said, 'if you do join us, try not to get in our way, slow drivers shouldn't be racers.'

With that, the guy just left not even bothering to ask him his name and, while he walked away from him, Ryosuke saw Kyoichi tying a white bandana on top of his short-haired head. Seeing how ridiculous it looked on him made Ryosuke let out a soft chuckle and it was right then when Rin finally returned from talking to his friend.

'What's so funny?' he asked Ryosuke.

'Nothing,' he replied then, he bowed a bit and told him, 'I must apologise for wasting your time.'

'What do you mean?' Rin asked.

'I don't think I want to enrol in this school,' Ryosuke explained.

'Why not?' Rin asked, 'it's a really good school and…'

'I know,' Ryosuke interrupted him, 'and I'm sure they could teach me many very useful advanced driving techniques, however, I think I'll stick to the self-learning method I've been using during this past month. Please try to understand that.'

'I do,' Rin said and then, he smiled and said, 'to be honest, I'm kind of relieved. This wasn't my idea.'

'It wasn't?' Ryosuke asked.

'No,' Rin said, 'those two nutters convinced me to take you here even though I didn't agree with it.'

'I guess you're talking about Nishihara-san and Kuroki-san,' Ryosuke said returning the smile.

'Yes,' Rin said, 'I told them this wasn't for you but they insisted that I had to let you decide by yourself.'

'But you did attend this school, right?'

'Me?' Rin asked sounding surprised, 'no way.'

'But…'

'Todou-san and Hasemi-san used to race together when they were much younger and Hasemi-san introduced me to Todou-san a couple years ago,' Rin explained, 'he's been trying to get me to enrol in his school for a while but, it's just not my thing either.'

'I see,' Ryosuke said.

'Well,' Rin added, 'if you're not interested, it's okay, I'll just tell Todou-san that you're too much like me and he'll understand.'

Ryosuke chose to say nothing to that feeling grateful that Rin wasn't upset about the fact that they had wasted time and petrol coming here for absolutely nothing. In any case, Ryosuke was only too happy when they drove away from the place thinking that while a racing school would probably make things easier for him in terms of learning faster, he instinctively knew that it wasn't for him. A school, no matter which type, would always be a restriction of some kind and that's the last thing Ryosuke wanted for his so-called hobby.

Asides from that, there was the fact that he really hadn't liked the tone that Kyoichi guy had used when talking to him. If he was the sort of students one could find at a racing school, Ryosuke felt he was better off training by himself, after all, while he was up Mt Akagi at night, he certainly wouldn't get in anyone's way.

On the last Sunday of May, eight days after his nineteenth birthday, Ryosuke drove to the Kanetsu Sportsland in Iwasaki looking forward to seeing if his nearly two months of constant training at Mt Akagi's pass had paid off during his first autocross event. He felt so excited about the fact that, at long last, he was going to compete with other drivers that he had had trouble sleeping the previous night.

Making his way into the car park, he saw that Keita was already there, leaning against his FB.

'Hey,' the older guy said as soon as Ryosuke was out of his Mazda, 'I managed to beat you!'

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied with a soft smile, 'it looks like you have.'

'So,' Keita said, 'are you ready?'

'I think so,' Ryosuke replied.

'Don't be nervous,' Keita advised, 'the best thing you can do is to drive as you usually do.'

'I will,' Ryosuke promised.

'I'm looking forward to seeing you in action,' Keita confessed.

'Please don't expect too much,' Ryosuke asked him, just in case.

'It's always the quiet ones,' they then heard Masahiro's deep voice saying.

'Hasemi-san,' Keita said, 'I didn't know you'd be here today too.'

'I was bored,' the professional racer said, 'and the next JTCC race isn't until two weeks from now.'

'Sir, you really like racing, don't you?' Keita asked him playfully.

'I love it,' Masahiro replied, 'I wouldn't want to do anything else.'

Ryosuke felt some powerful emotion invading his heart. To hear such passion from a racer as experienced and as accomplished as Hasemi Masahiro and how it mirrored his own feelings towards his FC and for racing in general made him aware of something he had been suspecting for a while now: he was irreparably in love with cars and racing.

'Hey,' Keita said taking him out of his reverie, 'are you okay?'

'Yes,' he somehow managed to reply.

'Good,' Keita said, 'because Rin and Junichi just got here.'

Ryosuke saw the silver GA61 and the gleaming black EG6 driving into the parking area and, soon enough, the four guys walked together to the small track's offices where they submitted their registration form and paid the fee so that the organisation would put them down on the list of participants for today's event.

'Alright,' Rin told him, 'since it's your first one, you should try and get as much practice as you can.'

'I agree,' Ryosuke replied.

'Then, off you go,' Rin said practically shooing him towards his FC.

Ryosuke got onboard his car after affixing the sticker the organisation had given him onto the windscreen and then, he made sure everything in the car was set up properly before he turned the 13B engine on. He made it to the entrance proper of the track and there, he saw one of the officials checking the number on the sticker and, with a washable marker, he proceeded to write the same number onto both sides of the FC.

'Alright,' the man shouted at him, 'you've got five laps, use them well.'

'Yes, sir,' Ryosuke replied talking from inside his car.

Perking up on his seat, he waited for the signal and, seeing the man lowering his hand, Ryosuke took off driving onto the track's main straight as fast as he dared. He darted past that and, at the first corner, he did his best to brake as late as possible, going slightly wide, only to floor it while he forced the car as close to the apex as possible. When he exited the right-hander he knew he had done a reasonably good job at it.

Without breaking his concentration, Ryosuke continued driving negotiating corner after corner, always making sure he kept the revs high enough and taking note of the gears he needed to be in and each and every one of the braking points he had decided to use for the timed lap. At the end of the fifth lap, he was happy to see that he had managed to memorise the track as well as everything else he needed to remember.

'Not bad,' Rin told him after he rejoined the group.

'Not bad at all,' Junichi agreed.

'I don't know,' Keita said.

Before they could ask him what he meant, the FB driver just left so that he could do his own set of practice laps. Ryosuke was too happy to care and, looking at his car, he felt confident that they had done a good job. Ryosuke's confidence lasted for the whole morning and, by the time it was his turn to do the timed laps, he had already forgotten about Keita's less than encouraging words.

He climbed into the FC driving it back onto the track following Junichi's black EG6. They then waited for the first in the short queue of cars to start doing his timed laps while the rest kept their engines running and a few minutes later, Ryosuke watched Junichi taking off with his Honda. Ryosuke knew that, while Rin and Keita's cars had been heavily modified and therefore competed in a different class, Junichi's EG6 was all-stock like his own FC and both cars were entered in the same category which meant that they were effectively competing against each other. He had just finished this thought when he saw the same old marshal telling him to get ready.

'GO!' the man shouted.

Launching the FC onto the track, Ryosuke cruised down the main straight, he then took his car around the first right-hander in the same exact way he'd done during his practice laps, he then went around the tiny chicane, negotiating the following set of corners; a right-hander followed by a fast left-hander which took him to the track's secondary straight. After that, he only had one more turn before he got to the finish line. By the end of the third lap, he was sure that he had done his very best.

That was the reason why he felt his heart sinking when, checking the handwritten scoreboard posted by the track's officials, he saw that the fastest of his times wasn't even in the top five. Ryosuke had just about managed to achieve a meagre seventh place in the non-modified category while Junichi had finished fifth with his EG6. He felt so disappointed in his performance that he could have cried.

'It's not you,' Keita told him seeing his expression while he stared at the scoreboard.

'What do you mean?' Ryosuke asked trying to sound normal.

'I've been watching you at the track,' the FB driver told him, 'and the way you drive is nearly perfect.'

'Nishihara-san…'

'I'm serious,' Keita insisted, 'you're fast and neat enough and you don't waste time braking unnecessarily.'

'But then…'

'Can I ask you something?' Keita said.

'Of course,' Ryosuke said.

'You haven't done anything to your car ever since you bought it, have you?' Keita asked him.

'Er…well, I've only changed the tyres, once,' Ryosuke admitted.

'I see,' Keita said, 'I already suspected that much.'

'Nishihara-san…'

'It was your birthday recently, wasn't it?' Keita asked him next making Ryosuke feel a little confused.

'Yes, on the 23rd,' he managed to reply.

'Right,' Keita said and then, he smiled and patted him on his shoulder, 'then I have a present for you.'

'A present?' Ryosuke asked.

'Yes,' Keita said, 'I'll introduce you to someone, this guy is the only person I let anywhere near my FB.'

'Nishihara-san…'

Keita made a gesture which made him stop talking and Ryosuke saw that, just then, Rin and Junichi were coming back from having a chat with some other drivers. Before the two could get within hearing range, Keita pulled his wallet out of his pocket and, taking a business card out of from it, he gave it to Ryosuke and said:

'Take your FC to this guy tomorrow afternoon.'

Rin and Junichi joined them just then and Ryosuke barely had the time to read the name and address printed on the card before he pushed it inside the front pocket of his trousers: the guy in question was called Matsumoto Shuichi and lived somewhere in Isesaki.

_To be continued…_


	6. Chapter Five

A/N: This chapter was fun to write! Also, I think I've pretty much decided to ignore what's going to happen in the next chapters of the manga and I will just carry on with the storyline I've come up with, hopefully it'll still make sense. If not, I hope you will still enjoy this version. Also, answering to Dragon Reverb's question, most of the ideas here are product of my weird imagination, I don't really recall if there was a scene in the manga where Ryosuke met Matsumoto for the first time so I decided to make this scenario up. I hope you guys like it.

As always, thanks a bunch for reading and for your feedback, keep it coming! ^_^

**Planetarium**

_Chapter Five_

Finding the address printed on the card wasn't particularly difficult and just a few minutes past four on Monday afternoon, Ryosuke drove his car into a small but modern looking automotive workshop. There he was met by a young employee who indicated the spot where Ryosuke figured he had to park his FC and, once that was done, he climbed out of the Mazda and said:

'Hello, I'm Takahashi Ryouske, I…'

'I was waiting for you, Takahashi-san,' the young man said, 'I'm Matsumoto Shuichi.'

Ryosuke didn't say anything sensing that the guy was going to continue speaking.

'Nishihara-san wasn't exaggerating,' he said giving the FC an admiring glance, 'it really is a beautiful car.'

'Thank you,' Ryosuke replied, 'did Nishihara-san explain the reason why I'm here?'

'Yes, he did,' Shuichi confirmed, 'he told me you needed a few pointers about the car's settings.'

'That's an understatement,' Ryosuke replied.

'Alright,' Shuichi said laughing softly, 'I think we should start by giving your FC a thorough check up, just to see what needs to be done.'

'Fine by me,' Ryosuke replied.

'Okay,' Shuichi said, 'if you could please drive it up there,' he added indicating a platform which was about half a meter above ground level, 'we'll start testing the engine's power output, the state of the suspensions, brakes and the rest of it. After that, I'd like to take a look at the transmission and…'

'Matsumoto-san,' Ryosuke interrupted him, 'you don't need to explain to me what you'll do, I'll just watch.'

'Alright,' Shuichi said looking a little taken aback.

Soon enough, Ryosuke had his FC with its tyres hooked in between two moving rolls. Following Shuichi's instructions, he pressed the accelerator, the brake and clutch pedals alternatively and while the mechanic checked the figures he was getting on the monitor of his computer, he also seemed to be writing random things on an old notebook.

'Is everything okay?' Ryosuke asked him from inside his car.

'I don't know yet,' was Shuichi's very unsettling reply.

Seeing the guy's concerned expression made Ryosuke frown in worry too and he felt relieved when, at long last, Shuichi told him he could get the car off the testing platform. Alas, Shuichi now wanted him to drive it onto another structure which would lift the car up from the ground so that he could walk underneath it. It was while Shuichi operated the machinery that a slightly impatient Ryosuke asked him:

'What's wrong with it?'

'Nothing is wrong,' Shuichi replied.

'But…'

'That's the problem,' Shuichi explained, 'how long have you been driving this car, Takahashi-san?'

'A little under two months,' Ryosuke replied, 'why?'

'It's surprising, that's all,' Shuichi said, 'you're either the most careful driver in history or…'

'…or?' Ryosuke asked.

'Or you're not pushing it as much as you should,' Shuichi replied.

'What do you mean by that?' Ryosuke asked him not liking what he was hearing.

'Nishihara-san said you've been practicing hard in both conventional roads as well as at the Kanetsu track.'

'Yes,' Ryosuke confirmed.

'Well,' Shuichi said walking under the FC and indicating at several points of the car, 'see here and there?'

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied.

'There aren't any signs of normal wear and tear,' Shuichi explained, 'if the car's been pushed to its limits, these parts here should be a little worn out, yet, they look perfect. Also, looking at the tyres, I can tell that…'

'Matsumoto-san,' Ryosuke interrupted him, 'are you trying to say that I'm not pushing the car hard enough?'

'No,' Shuichi said, 'I'm saying that you're not pushing it at all.'

That left Ryosuke quite speechless.

'Also,' the mechanic continued, 'the car's not balanced properly and I get the feeling you've been trying to overcome that all by yourself.'

'I see,' was all he could reply.

'Takahashi-san,' Shuichi said, 'may I be frank with you?'

'Please do,' Ryosuke invited him.

'I think that the problem is that you've been doing all the effort by yourself without relying on the car and its potential,' Shuichi explained, 'Nishihara-san did mention something like that when we spoke, he said that while you had been working very hard in order to improve your driving skills, you didn't seem to trust your car.'

Ryosuke looked positively shocked hearing this and, glancing up at the FC, he started thinking that what the mechanic was saying made an awful lot of sense to him. It was true that he had practiced a lot to get faster and, while he loved his car, he had made the same mistake with it as he did with everything and everyone else: he didn't really trust it enough to rely on it.

'What can I do?' he asked Shuichi.

'Well,' the guy replied, 'to begin with, you need to let the poor thing do its job.'

'Alright,' Ryosuke said.

'Also,' Shuichi continued, 'you need to decide which sort of configuration will become the default so that you can always take it back there whenever you're done racing, this way you will always have the same starting point to use as reference when testing new settings.'

'Okay,' Ryosuke said.

'Now,' Shuichi added, 'if the car needs to be set up for every day use, say, to drive it around the city and on the expressway, you need to soften the settings so that it makes the car easier to drive while, hopefully, it'll improve fuel consumption. However, if you're planning on driving it, say, on the mountain passes, then we'll need to stiffen the suspensions to help with the cornering and get high performance brake pads installed on the front tyres for when you'll be going downhill.'

'What if I want to drive it on the autocross?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Then we'll need to rebalance the whole car to improve its handling on a flat surface,' Shuichi replied.

'Alright,' Ryosuke said then, as an afterthought, he added, 'there's one more thing I'd like to know.'

'What is it?' Shuichi asked.

'Is there a way for me to learn how to do all of this by myself?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Er…'

'I'm not trying to do your job,' Ryosuke hurried to say, 'but I'd like to be as self-sufficient as possible.'

'Of course,' Shuichi said still looking a little startled, 'I guess that if you got the right training, you…'

'That's a brilliant idea,' Ryosuke suddenly said.

'What is?' Shuichi asked now sounding almost afraid.

'Matsumoto-san,' Ryosuke said, 'I clearly have a lot to learn in terms of mechanical know-how and even Nishihara-san said you are the only person he lets anywhere near his car. I am aware I'm being very selfish in asking this out of the blue when we've just met but my lack of time calls for desperate measures: would you please consider taking me up as your apprentice?'

'My what?' Shuichi nearly wheezed.

'Your apprentice,' Ryosuke repeated all-too calmly.

'But…'

'Of course, I wouldn't expect any payment,' Ryosuke reassured him, 'learning would be a good enough reward for me.'

'Takahashi-san,' Shuichi tried to explain, 'that's not the problem here, I just…my boss, I…don't know if he would like that.'

'I see,' Ryosuke said looking slightly downcast, 'it's impossible then.'

'Well,' Shuichi replied, 'I wouldn't say impossible, I just would need to check with him first.'

'Would you do that?' Ryosuke asked him careful not to sound too eager.

'Well…'

'I'll do my best not to get in the way and I'll learn as fast as possible so that I can be useful and…'

'Alright, alright,' Shuichi interrupted him looking slightly overwhelmed, 'I'll see what I can do.'

'Thank you,' Ryosuke said offering him one of his rare smiles.

'I can't promise you anything,' Shuichi said blushing for some bizarre reason, 'I can just talk to him and…'

'That'll be more than enough,' Ryosuke interrupted him, 'if your manager is a wise business man, I doubt he'll say no to an extra, virtually free pair of hands. And if he's worried about the insurance or the legal aspects of my working here, I am prepared to sign a document waiving my statutory rights and, in case something happens to me and I get injured while working here, my father owns a hospital so they'll take full care of whichever treatment I'll need there.'

'Takahashi-san,' Shuichi said smiling softly while he shook his head in disbelief, 'for a supposedly spur-of-the-moment idea, you've put a lot of thought into it, haven't you?'

Ryosuke didn't answer to that question, instead, he said:

'I'm a fast learner and as long as I'm shown what I need to see, I'm happy to do anything you want me to.'

'Alright,' Shuichi surrendered.

'Where's your manager?' Ryosuke asked.

'Wait,' Shuichi said, 'you mean you want to start now?'

'Like I said,' Ryosuke replied, 'I don't really have a lot of time so the sooner we start, the better.'

'Of course,' Shuichi found himself saying and, without giving himself time to thing, he said, 'okay, wait here.'

Ryosuke complied with the order and watched while the young mechanic went into the small two-floor building where, he guessed, the manager had his office. A couple of minutes later, he saw Shuichi returning with an old beefy man with wispy greying hair clad with a pair of faded red overalls. The man walked up to him and said:

'Hello, my name's Mikami Ken.'

'I'm Takahashi Ryosuke, sir,' he replied.

'Matsumoto here tells me you want to work here for free,' the manager said.

'That is correct, Mikami-san,' Ryosuke said politely, 'I would be very grateful if you could somehow accommodate my request.'

'Well,' Ken said looking rather impressed, 'since you're asking so nicely, I can hardly say no but, even if you're volunteering, I still expect you to work hard. My customers are used to top-notch service and that's the sort of standard I want to keep.'

'Of course,' Ryosuke said.

'If I receive a single complaint from either a customer or a member of my staff…'

'There won't be any,' Ryosuke promised, 'I'll do my very best to learn fast and make myself useful.'

'Alright,' Ken said, 'we'll do this: for the next few weeks, you'll work under Matsumoto and if by the end of June, he's happy with your work, I'll consider letting you stay with us for the rest of the summer, okay?'

'Thank you, Mikami-san,' Ryosuke said bowing politely.

'Okay,' the old man said smiling at him, 'you seem a decent enough chap to me, so I'm sure we'll all be fine.'

'I'll do my best,' Ryosuke promised once again.

A handshake concluded the shortest employment negotiations in history and with that settled, the manager just walked back to his office while Ryosuke waited to hear Shuichi's first set of instructions. They were fairly simple:

'You should change into something less…clean.'

'Alright,' Ryosuke replied.

Ten minutes later, he replaced his tailor-made dark blue trousers and his Irish linen white shirt with an old but serviceable pair of red overalls bearing the initials MK embroidered in black on the chest pocket. He felt lucky he wasn't wearing his new white driving shoes…

'Okay,' Shuichi said, 'the first thing we'll do is to remove the tyres so I can show you how to adjust the struts.'

'Those are the elements which control steering response and overall ride quality, correct?' Ryosuke asked.

'I thought you didn't know anything about mechanics,' Shuichi said frowning a little.

'I know the theory,' Ryosuke admitted, 'but that doesn't help much when it comes to real hands-on work, does it?'

'No, it doesn't,' Shuichi agreed then, he smiled a bit and said, 'let's us get on with it then.'

'Of course,' Ryosuke said.

The two worked on the FC for the following three hours, during which, not only did Ryosuke learn how to adjust the car's suspensions but also, Shuichi told him about the different settings he recommended to compete in different kind of motorsports while answering with Buddha-like patience the myriad of questions Ryosuke's over active brain kept coming up with. The young mechanic soon learned that Ryosuke's intellectual curiosity knew no limits.

'So,' the future doctor asked, 'as long as I don't do any actual modifications to the engine or add after-market elements to it, my FC will still qualify as non-modified as far as the autocross regulations are concerned?'

'Yes, that's correct,' Shuichi replied closing the lid of the white Mazda's bonnet.

'I see,' Ryosuke said looking pensive.

'It's very late now,' Shuichi commented glancing at his watch, 'but we've managed to do a fair bit of work.'

'Thank you very much,' Ryosuke said bowing his head a little.

'You're welcome,' Shuichi replied then, he added, 'to be honest with you, I'm a little shocked: you pick up stuff so quickly it's scary! When you promised you would learn fast, you weren't joking, were you?'

'I rarely do,' Ryosuke explained sounding serious.

'I'm beginning to understand that,' Shuichi said, 'okay, what time are you going to come here tomorrow?'

'Probably the same as today,' Ryosuke replied, 'if that's okay with you.'

'That'll be fine,' Shuichi said, 'I've got to work on an engine tomorrow so we'll look into that, okay?'

'I'll be looking forward to it,' Ryosuke replied.

'Me too,' a grinning Shuichi said, 'I think we're going to have fun.'

The guy was absolutely right and, for the following weeks while he worked as apprentice mechanic, Ryosuke found that he had never felt more alive in his nineteen years of existence. Granted, his daily schedule was now packed from dawn till dusk and very often even beyond that: during the day he'd go to his lectures, he then would rush to the auto workshop where he would usually stay until Shuichi would practically kick him out of the place. He then would go home just in time for dinner with his parents and, sometimes even Keisuke, and after that he would dedicate a few hours to his research in both medical and automotive fields and, just before midnight, he would get on the FC so that he would test the latest adjustment they'd done to it so that the next day he could report the results to Shuichi.

He was incredibly busy and his sleeping time now averaged no more than two or three hours per night but, somehow, he didn't care: he was happier than he'd been in a long time, his car had never felt better and he was sure that on the last Sunday of June, his FC would top the scoreboard at the monthly Kanetsu Sportsland autocross meet.

On Saturday afternoon, the day before the event, Ryosuke decided to take the Mazda to Shuichi for a quick last-second tweaking and, walking into the garage at home, he found his younger brother Keisuke about to get on his motorbike. The spiky-haired youth smirked at him and, placing the black helmet back onto the CBR 400's seat, he said:

'Hello, stranger.'

'Keisuke…'

'Hey,' the kid said, 'I'm just saying…'

'I know what you're saying,' Ryosuke interrupted him.

'You know,' Keisuke said getting serious, 'it really is beyond me how, if I'm not here our parents think I'm out there being a delinquent yet, you hardly even sleep at home anymore and everyone's cool with that.'

'Keisuke, I…'

'Where are you going right now?'

'I'm going to work,' Ryosuke replied firmly.

'Work?' Keisuke asked now looking surprised, 'when did you get a job?'

'It's not a proper job,' Ryosuke explained, 'it's just part-time volunteering.'

Keisuke's face went from stunned to looking amused in less than two seconds, he laughed softly and said:

'Alright, that's something I actually see you doing.'

'Where are you going?' Ryosuke countered refusing to humour his younger brother.

'Isn't it obvious?' Keisuke asked throwing a glance at the backpack he had hanging off his shoulders.

'Not really,' Ryosuke replied deadpan, 'what's in there?'

'Oh, just some bombs,' Keisuke joked.

'Keisuke…'

'Aniki, chill,' he laughed, 'I'm off to Ami-chan's place, her parents are gone for the day and I told her we'd study together.'

'And that's what you're going to do, right?' Ryosuke asked.

'If it makes you sleep better at night,' was Keisuke's vague answer.

'Keisuke…' Ryosuke started then, remembering he was trying not to be smothering with him, he said, 'alright, fine.'

'Okay,' Keisuke said with a pleased grin, 'with your permission, I've got to go.'

'Alright,' Ryosuke said, 'be careful, okay?'

'I always am,' Keisuke promised.

After watching him go, Ryosuke got onboard his FC and less than half an hour later, he drove into the workshop where he and Shuichi worked. Parking his car at its usual spot, he climbed out of the car and noticed that Keita's red FB was currently being serviced by Shuichi while the car's owner talked to him.

'Good afternoon, Nishihara-san,' Ryosuke said to Keita.

'Hey,' the older guy replied, 'I was just hearing from Matsumoto.'

'Hearing what?' Ryosuke asked calmly.

'That you're turning into a mechanic wiz kid,' Keita explained.

'He's just too kind,' Ryosuke tried to protest.

'No I'm not,' Shuichi said getting out from under the FB's bonnet, 'do you know what he did only yesterday?'

'No, I don't,' Keita replied looking curious to know.

'Do you see that car over there?' he asked pointing at a dark green MX6.

'Yes?' Keita said.

'Well,' Shuichi said looking like he was trying hard to sound pissed when, in reality he looked very impressed, 'I just asked him to check it out to see if he could figure out what was wrong with it before we would start working on it, as a test to see how much he'd learned in these past few weeks, you know?'

'Sure,' Keita humoured him.

'Not only he did figure out what was wrong with it but, he actually fixed it himself!' Shuichi exclaimed.

'It wasn't such a difficult problem,' Ryosuke tried to justify himself, 'the injectors were dirty and…'

'Wait,' Keita stopped him, 'you disassembled an inline-four engine on your own?'

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied and that made Keita burst out laughing.

'Oh man,' he said putting his hand on top of Shuichi's shoulder, 'I feel your pain.'

'Nishihara-san,' Ryosuke tried to protest, 'I…'

'I'm telling you,' Shuichi interrupted him, 'you're going to get me fired one of these days.'

'I would never do that,' Ryosuke promised looking awfully serious.

'Not on purpose, I know,' Shuichi said, 'but you're seriously getting very good at it and very quickly too.'

Ryosuke looked suitably ashamed.

'Think positive,' Keita said, 'that old man needs someone who can work full-time and he's busy studying, isn't he?'

'That's true,' Shuichi replied looking a little less anxious.

'Matsumoto-san,' Ryosuke insisted, 'I never intended to cause you any trouble, if my presence here is…'

'Hey, hey,' Keita hurried to say, 'we were just teasing you, weren't we?'

'Of course we were,' Shuichi agreed, 'and you're not causing us any trouble at all, believe me. In fact, you're doing a lot more than any of us here thought you would do. Not only that but you're also the best trainee I've ever had and, very soon, I doubt there will be anything left for you to learn about mechanics.'

'That's not possible,' Ryosuke said firmly.

'But…'

'There's a constant evolution in the automotive engineering field,' Ryosuke stopped him, 'just like within the medical one, there are always new techniques, new developments and one needs to work hard to keep himself up to date.'

'What did I tell you?' Shuichi said talking to Keita who was staring at Ryosuke in awe.

'He's not normal,' the older man managed to say.

Ryosuke made a mental effort to take that comment the best possible way.

'Anyway,' Shuichi said to Keita, 'I've got to go and get some coolant, try to keep him away from the car or I don't know what he'll do.'

'I'll do my best,' the FB owner promised offering Ryosuke a smirk. Shuichi had barely got out of hearing range when Keita glanced around the workshop and, lowering his tone of voice, he asked him, 'are you doing anything tonight?'

'Tonight?' Ryosuke replied, 'I was going to go to Mt Akagi to practice.'

'Would you like to come with me somewhere else?' Keita asked him.

'Where?' Ryosuke asked back.

'Have you heard of Mt Usui?' Keita asked him.

'Of course I have, it's a pass near the Nagano border,' Ryosuke replied, 'what's in there?'

'It's not what but…' Keita couldn't end his sentence because, just then, they saw Shuichi returning and that made him whisper furiously fast, 'can you meet me at Mt Usui's base at nine pm?'

'Of course I can,' Ryosuke replied feeling a tad confused.

'And don't mention it to Matsumoto, alright?' Keita added.

'Okay,' Ryosuke promised.

He found this last part of the instructions to be a tad unsettling and, even though he did enjoy his time with Shuichi and Keita while the three men finished getting both Mazda ready for the autocross meet, Ryosuke's brain couldn't stop thinking about what was going to happen that evening and he felt relieved when, shortly after Keita's departure, Shuichi announced he too had to start heading home or he'd be late for his dinner.

'Good luck tomorrow,' the young mechanic said, 'not that you'll need it.'

'Thanks,' Ryosuke replied.

'Hey,' Shuichi said misreading his serious face, 'you'll be fine, you'll see.'

'Yes, of course,' Ryosuke forced himself to reply.

'Let me know if the settings work okay,' Shuichi made him promise, 'if they don't we'll probably need to change some parts, fortunately, I know the guy who can help us with that: he's an old friend of mine and…'

'It'll be fine,' Ryosuke interrupted him, 'I better go now.'

'Sure,' Shuichi said looking a little puzzled.

At exactly ten minutes to nine, Ryosuke left the inter-prefecture expressway and headed to the base of Mt Usui's pass. He'd been there before as a child in one of the very rare family trips when his father had taken them to the nearby water park but he hadn't really visited the place as a young adult, even less at night. Which was the reason why he found it surprising to see so many people walking about the place, with some of them settled behind the guardrails, as if they were waiting for something to happen.

Ryosuke spotted Keita's red FB just as he took one of the very first corners of the pass.

The Mazda was parked at a reasonably wide bay by the side of the road right next to a very familiar black EG6 and, to Ryosuke's utmost astonishment, he also saw the silver GA61 belonging to Hojo Rin, Ryosuke was so surprised to see them there that he nearly missed the guardrail's opening which gave access to the bay. What he didn't miss was the look of shock which appeared on Rin's face when the older guy saw the white FC driving into the bay, almost as if he were a kid caught by his mother with his hand inside the cookie jar.

'What are you doing in here?' Rin asked him the instant Ryosuke was out of his car.

'I…'

'I invited him,' Keita said with a malicious sneer.

'What?' Rin asked him, 'why would you do that?'

'Because,' Keita replied calmly, 'this way you'll know what it feels like when someone else decides stuff for you.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' a furious Rin asked him.

'You know very well what I mean,' Keita said now sounding equally angry.

'Keita…'

'You didn't even think I would find out, did you?' Keita asked Rin.

'I…'

'It's a Prodrive scholarship in England for crying out loud!' he now shouted, 'didn't you think Hasemi-san would mention it to me?'

'Keita, I…'

'Imagine his surprise when I knew absolutely nothing about it,' Keita nearly cried, 'how could you do this to me?'

'Keita,' Rin said, 'I didn't think you'd be interested, I genuinely…'

'You genuinely screwed up, as always,' Keita spat sarcastically, 'you should have let me make that decision but you never do, do you? You always think you know better than everyone else! Geez, you even do that with Kaori-chan!'

'Excuse me,' Ryosuke finally intervened, 'what's going on in here?'

'Didn't you tell him?' Junichi asked Keita looking a little freaked out.

'No one told me anything,' Ryosuke said fighting to remain calm, 'I am asking you again: what's all of this?'

'This,' Keita said still trembling with left over fury, 'it's a street racing gathering and we're…'

'Not another word!' Rin warned him.

'You're all street racers, aren't you?' Ryosuke asked them.

'Yes, we are,' Keita replied while Rin glared at him, ignoring that, he grinned at Ryosuke and said, 'welcome to the dark side.'

_To be continued…_


	7. Chapter Six

A/N: First things first, included in this chapter is my very insignificant homage to a lovely Japanese youth called Tomizawa Shoya who loved motorbike racing so much he ended up giving his life for it. I have used his name for one of the recurrent characters hoping that the real Tomizawa Shoya-san will forever rest in peace.

Now that I have this very sad but necessary comment out of the way, I'd like to thank everyone for their feedback in whichever shape or form. You really have no idea of how useful it is to me, seriously. ^_^

**Planetarium**

_Chapter Six_

Instead of scaring him, Keita's words made Ryosuke feel the sort of thrill he'd been looking for during his entire life, providing him with something he could use to rebel against all the constraints brought by his position as first-born son of the Takahashi family, even if it was only temporarily. He was so happy with the discovery that he even forgot that Keita had probably brought him to the gathering just to get back at his so-called best friend.

'You shouldn't have brought him here with us,' Rin insisted.

'Why not?' Keita asked.

'Because he's not ready to deal with all of this yet,' Rin pointed out.

'Says who?' Keita challenged him, voicing Ryosuke's own unasked question.

'Me,' Rin replied, 'I…'

'You're just like your father,' Keita spat.

'What's that supposed to mean?' Rin hissed.

'You know well what that means,' Keita replied glaring at him.

'You…'

'Who do you think you are to decide whether Takahashi is ready for this or not?' Keita asked then, without giving Rin the time to answer, he added, 'and who the hell did you think you were to decide that I wasn't interested in that scholarship with Prodrive?

'Keita…'

'You know,' the man continued, 'the only reason why I'm even here talking to you instead of beating the crap out of you is because Hasemi-san managed to fix everything by calling a few favours so that Prodrive would still consider my application even if it's a bit late.'

'They accepted it?' Junichi asked intervening in the conversation for the first time.

'Yes, they did,' Keita said intensifying his glare while looking at Rin, 'not thanks to you, of course.'

'Keita,' Rin tried again, 'I…I thought you wouldn't be interested, I…'

'Why the hell wouldn't I be interested in a Prodrive scholarship?' a bewildered Keita asked him.

'I…well, Meiko-chan…'

'Oh please!' Keita snorted, 'I started seeing that chick less than five months ago. Entering a driver programme in one of the European-based rallying teams has been my freaking dream since I was thirteen years old!'

'I know that,' Rin admitted.

'Then why the hell didn't you tell me about that opportunity?' Keita asked.

'I…'

'And if you mention Meiko again, I swear I'll punch you,' Keita warned him.

'What about your parents?' Rin challenged him, 'can you just leave them like that?'

'Of course I can!' Keita said.

'You're their son,' Rin pointed out uselessly, 'what about their restaurant, aren't you supposed to take over their business?'

'No way,' Keita replied, 'I have absolutely zero interest in sushi, how can I even think of becoming a chef?'

'But…'

'This might come as a shock to you, Rin,' Keita interrupted him, 'but not everyone's thrilled at the prospect of continuing their family tradition and, for your information, my family's cool with whatever I do with my life.'

Ryosuke wanted to say 'lucky you' but somehow, he managed to repress the urge.

'I'm sorry,' he heard Rin saying instead, 'I…'

'You've screwed up,' Keita interrupted him, 'in such a major way that it'll take me a long time before I calm down.'

'I know,' Rin said.

'Speaking of time,' Junichi intervened again, 'when you get the scholarship…'

'It's not 'when' it's 'if', you don't want to jinx me, do you?' Keita protested.

'Sorry,' Junichi said, 'so, if you get that scholarship, when would you leave?' Junichi asked him.

'September,' Keita replied.

'How long would you be gone for?' Ryosuke dared to ask.

'Worst case scenario: six months to a year,' Keita said then, smirking a bit, he added, 'best one: forever.'

'Forever?' Junichi asked looking a little desolate.

'Yes,' Keita replied refusing to get as emotional as his friend, 'if they let me take part in their programme and they see something they like, they might offer me a position in one of their rallying teams, probably in the British championship or, if I'm really lucky, they might even set me up for an international team. In that case, I very much doubt I'll ever return to Japan.'

'Ever?' Rin asked him.

'Well,' Keita said, 'I'd be back for holidays and stuff but not much else.'

'That'd be bad,' Junichi decided then, seeing Keita's frown, he added, 'I mean, we'll be lonely without you.'

'Alright,' Keita said looking a tad freaked out, 'Takahashi, get in your car, we'll…'

'Wait,' Rin stopped him, 'I don't think that's a good idea, he's…'

'…a full grown man capable of making his own decisions,' Keita countered, 'am I right, Takahashi?'

'Of course,' Ryosuke replied nodding once.

'Takahashi,' Rin started, 'this pass is…'

'Hojo-senpai,' Ryosuke said with his most polite tone of voice, 'I am very grateful of your thoughtfulness, I…'

'I'm not being thoughtful,' Rin interrupted him, 'this pass is dangerous: it's too narrow and its surface is…'

'Rin,' Keita stopped him, 'make a mental effort and try to stop acting like a mother hen, it's getting old and it's boring.'

With that and before Rin could come up with an appropriate way to counter Keita's rather rude comment, the FB driver started walking towards his car leaving Ryosuke with no option but to make his way to his own Mazda.

'Wait,' Rin said grabbing him by his shoulder, forcing him to stop and turn round.

'Hojo-senpai…'

'I'm not going to tell you what you should do,' Rin said, 'even if I think that it was wrong of Keita to bring you here.'

'Hojo-senpai,' Ryosuke tried again, 'even if Nishihara-san hadn't brought me here, I would have found a gathering like this one, eventually. I have been actively seeking something like this for quite a few weeks already.'

'Is that so?' Rin asked him.

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied, 'I never mentioned anything because I didn't know whether you'd approve of street racing.'

'I see,' Rin said.

'I should get going,' Ryosuke pointed out hearing the FB's engine.

'Alright,' Rin said then, as an afterthought, he added, 'don't let Keita talk you into racing him or anyone else.'

'Why not?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Because you'll lose,' was Rin's simple reply.

Ryosuke felt like someone had just slapped him and, trying to recover as fast as he could, he nodded.

'Duly noted,' he added with just a hint of sarcasm.

'I'm serious,' Rin said.

'So am I,' Ryosuke countered.

Then, at long last, he walked back to his FC and a few moments later, he was following Keita's red FB all the way up the mountain. Ryosuke noticed that neither Rin nor Junichi had joined them and, for some reason, both seemed to prefer staying down at the base. Not that he cared, he thought sternly, after what Rin had just told him, he felt more than a tad insulted and he really didn't want to see his face at the moment.

It wasn't that he thought he could win a battle there, he pondered while seeing how narrow and twisted the road was and taking a peek at the sheer depth of some of its cliffs made him think he could count himself lucky if he even finished the race in one piece. Yet again, hearing the finality of Rin's prediction was quite damaging for his newborn racer's pride and he was almost wishing someone would challenge him, if only to prove Rin wrong.

When the two Mazda got to the top of the pass, Ryosuke followed Keita's FB along an even narrower road which led them to small parking area. They saw no fewer than half a dozen cars there of which Ryosuke only failed to recognise one of them: it was a lime green Nissan hatchback and judging by the way people surrounded its owner, a short guy in his late twenties, it made Ryosuke think the guy was some sort of leader.

'Nishihara-san,' Ryosuke half-whispered to Keita the instant both were out of their cars, 'who is that man?'

'I'll introduce you in a minute,' Keita replied.

'I'm not familiar with the car he drives,' Ryosuke said as casually as possible.

'Of course you're not,' Keita replied laughing softly, 'you're too young to remember.'

'Please explain,' Ryosuke said trying not to take offence.

'That's a 1984 S12 Gazelle,' Keita replied, 'it's the sister of the Silvia, you know about those, right?'

'Yes, of course,' Ryosuke said then, using an even lower tone of voice, he said, 'it's rather compact, isn't it?'

'Don't let its size fool you,' Keita said, 'that beast there has an FJ24 engine under its bonnet.'

'An FJ24?' an incredulous Ryosuke asked, 'but that's a…'

'Group B engine, correct,' Keita confirmed, 'and that's not all: its driver is even more of a monster.'

'I…'

'Don't even think about challenging him to a race,' Keita warned him, 'I'm not going to go all Rin on you but, trust me, you do not want to race that guy,' he added indicating the short guy with a slight gesture with his head.

'Alright,' Ryosuke accepted.

'That said,' Keita added now trying to sound casual, 'if you're looking for a race, I'd be happy to oblige.'

'Nishihara-san, please don't tease me,' Ryosuke complained.

'I'm not,' Keita replied seriously, 'I was going to suggest it anyway, mind you, we would need to take it easy since our cars have been set up for tomorrow's autocross event and I'm sure Matsumoto won't be happy if we ruin his work.'

'Speaking of whom,' Ryosuke said, 'why didn't you want him to know about this gathering?'

'Oh,' Keita said, 'this is a long story…'

'We've got time,' Ryosuke insisted.

'You've met Mikami-san, right?'

'The workshop's owner, yes,' Ryosuke replied.

'Well,' Keita said, 'the man recently lost his only son during a street race.'

'Was he a racer?' Ryosuke asked.

'No,' Keita replied, 'the poor guy was just driving along the Kasuo Pass when he, quite literally, bumped into a battle between two local racers. One of them crashed against Mikami-san's son killing them both instantly.'

Ryosuke's throat failed him.

'That's why I've told you that this is the dark side,' Keita explained.

'I'm beginning to get the picture,' Ryosuke managed to say.

'I don't think so,' Keita countered, 'but I think you know what you're getting yourself into.'

'I do,' Ryosuke said trying to sound convincing.

Keita was about to add something when the S12 driver saw him and, excusing himself with his friends, he walked up them with a grin somehow softening the expression of a seasoned street racer. The man spared a quick glance at Ryosuke before focusing his gaze back on Keita and, still smiling, he said:

'I see you've finally decided to keep better company.'

'I'm sorry to disappoint you,' Keita said, 'but Rin is down at the base with Junichi.'

'Now, that is disappointing,' the man confirmed, 'who's the kid? Is he your new protégé?'

'No,' Keita chuckled, 'his name is Takahashi Ryosuke and he is Rin's protégé, not mine.'

'I'm sorry to hear that,' the man said, his smile gone replaced with a disapproving scowl.

'I'm nobody's protégé,' Ryosuke said firmly.

'Is that so?' Keita asked him with a hint of admiration in his eyes.

'Yes,' Ryosuke confirmed, 'Hojo-senpai has done a lot for me and I'm very grateful for that but he's not my mentor.'

'Well said, kiddo,' the man said, 'I'm Tomizawa Shoya and I think it'll be a pleasure to meet you.'

'I'm sure it's a pleasure to meet you,' Ryosuke replied.

'Nishihara, I think I'm going to like him,' the man called Shoya said.

'I'm pretty sure you will,' Keita confirmed, 'in fact, I wonder if you could do us a huge favour.'

'Sure, what is it?' Shoya asked.

'I was just asking Takahashi if he wanted to have a friendly race with me,' Keita explained, 'I know you've got a battle planned at ten o'clock but I'd be really grateful if you could let us use the pass before that.'

Shoya looked like he was thinking about it then, nodding once, he also shrug his broad shoulders and said:

'Sure, go ahead, I'll let my guys know so that they clear the pass for you.'

'Thank you very much,' Keita said.

'No worries,' Shoya replied then, he asked, 'have you thought about what I told you the last time we spoke?'

'Yes, I have,' Keita said.

'And?' the man pressed on.

'With a lot of luck, I might be going to Europe soon,' Keita explained.

'Ah,' Shoya gasped, 'okay…well…that would certainly complicate things a bit.'

'Yes, they would,' Keita agreed.

'Oh well,' Shoya said, 'if that trip doesn't happen, you know where to find me.'

'Of course,' Keita replied.

'I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do,' Shoya added looking at Ryosuke who just nodded once.

He then waited until Shoya returned to his group of fans before turning to speak to Keita:

'What was that about?'

'Nothing important,' Keita said, 'he's been asking me to join his team for a while, that's all.'

'His street racing team, you mean?' Ryosuke asked.

'Yes,' Keita confirmed.

'What about Hojo-senpai and…'

'Rin and Junichi don't know anything about that,' Keita stopped him, 'and I'd like to keep it that way.'

'That's because Tomizawa-san doesn't like Hojo-senpai very much, correct?' Ryosuke asked.

'That's an understatement,' Keita said, 'Tomizawa-san hates the sort of street racing Rin represents.'

'And he's not the only one, right?' Ryosuke asked before he could help himself.

'Takahashi-kun,' Keita said playfully, 'you really are a very smart guy.'

Ryosuke was going to counter that but then, Shoya's whistle got their attention and looking at the older guy, they saw that he had just got the all-clear from the members of his team. Keita shouted an 'okay' before he gave a very determined look at Ryosuke which made it obvious that, from then on, Keita was looking at him as a rival.

'Alright,' the guy said, 'you go in front and…'

'No,' Ryosuke interrupted him, 'I think it's better if I'm the one chasing.'

'What?' Keita asked, 'no way: you're a newbie here and this pass is dangerous enough as it is.'

'That's precisely the reason why it's safer if I follow you,' Ryosuke said presenting him with flawless logic.

'You do have a fair point,' was Keita's predictable answer.

'Then, if you please,' Ryosuke insisted indicating their two Mazda, 'I'll go after you.'

'Fine,' a serious Keita said, 'just so you know, even if it's a friendly race, I'm still going to do my best to win.'

'I wouldn't have it any other way,' Ryosuke replied looking equally serious.

Less than a minute later, the people at the summit gathered along the guardrails while Shoya appointed himself as the countdown man for Ryosuke's very first street battle. Getting onboard his FC, the nineteen year old took a few moments to gather his thoughts while trying to come up with some sort of strategy, which wasn't an easy feat considering the very few bits of information he had at his disposal.

Keita was right, Ryosuke thought turning on the 13B engine: he was a newbie at this pass, in fact, other than when they had climbed up the hill, he had no experience whatsoever driving on this road whereas Keita probably was a regular visitor of Mt Usui's pass and that fact gave him a definite advantage. All things considered, the only factor which was in Ryosuke's favour was the fact that his FC was newer and theoretically faster than Keita's FB.

'Let's do this,' he said talking to the steering wheel.

Rolling the car forward, he drove it out of the parking space he'd found earlier and soon enough, he stopped it right behind Keita's red FB. While he waited, he entertained himself by checking that every gauge, every dial and everything in the car was working as it should. He also re-adjusted the four-point racing seatbelt he'd only recently installed making sure that he wasn't going to be bothered by its set of thick straps. Then, grasping the black steering wheel with his two hands, he took a deep, calming breath and decided he was ready.

'Alright!' he heard Shoya shouting, 'FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE, GO!'

As if it was in slow motion, his foot engaged the clutch, his left hand found the shifter, he entered the first gear, released the handbrake and then, everything accelerated again once his other foot opened the throttle launching the FC in pursue of the FB. The two cars first cruised along the narrow lane which led to the first corner of the road and even if they had never agreed on it, both drivers somehow knew that that was the real starting point of the race.

That was the only reason why Ryosuke didn't lose sight of Keita's FB as the two cars made it around the left-hander but, as he soon found out, keeping up with the older driver was challenging enough to require his full attention. During the first few corners, Ryosuke didn't even have the time to check Keita's lines and, instead, he decided to focus on trying to keep his own as clean as possible trying to guess as accurately as he could the correct shifting and breaking points while he negotiated bend after bend, only taking the odd breather during the very short straight sections of the course.

He only started feeling a little more confident when he realised that all the work he and Shuichi had put into the car was definitely paying off: not only the FC was a lot more responsive than it had been before but, also, Ryosuke found it easier to tackle the corners, as if Shuichi had somehow reached a compromise knowing that Ryosuke would also drive the car up and down Mt Akagi. This made Ryosuke suspect that the man only pretended not to know about Keita's and even Ryosuke's very illegal street racing activities.

'That Matsumoto,' Ryosuke said a soft smile appearing on his face.

Returning his attention to the task at hand, he realised that another reason why things were getting easier was because the road was beginning to widen a bit and the previously tight corners were giving way to faster, more open ones. Ryosuke knew that this meant that soon Keita would start letting his car drift around them and, as they approached the following fast right-hander, he watched the FB starting to slide.

Copying that, Ryosuke put into use what he'd been practicing for weeks and felt very happy when he saw that his FC could take the corner at roughly the same speed as Keita's FB. With this new discovery, Ryosuke finally decided which strategy he would adopt and for the following few corners he started to, gradually but inexorably, increase the pressure on Keita by driving the FC as close to the FB's rear bumper as he dared.

This was the situation the people stationed around the infamous C-121 corner saw when the two Mazda reached the super-turn: Keita got to the entry point a millisecond before Ryosuke did and while both cars followed the same exact line around the turn, Ryosuke noticed that Keita's FB was starting to go a little too wide as they approached the exit. Frowning, he started worrying that his rival would fail to make the turn. 'Come on FB,' he cheered on involuntarily.

Surprising even himself with the instinctive sympathy, he forced himself to remember that this was a battle and, using up the chance given, while Keita fought to keep his car away from the guardrail, Ryosuke decided to veer towards the inside line and, using a bit of the extra speed he had reserved for the occasion, he first levelled with the FB, overtaking it immediately after. Not happy with that, Ryosuke kept the speed up in an attempt to put as much space in between the two cars as it was mechanically possible.

For Ryosuke, the race had just started.

He knew very well that his advantage would only last for as long as it took for Keita to recover and, as always, his instinct served him well. In fact, not even four corners after the C-121, he saw that the FB was already sticking to the FC's rear bumper. Right then, Ryosuke felt a shiver running up his spine: it was that, the sort of thrill he'd been looking for, one he couldn't get elsewhere, not even during the autocross events.

Fuelled by this dangerously addictive feeling, Ryosuke somehow managed to keep the lead all the way to the lower section of the pass where the road was wide enough for two cars to drive side by side comfortably and the previously steeper downhill was reduced to a gentle slope. Unfortunately, that didn't make his race any easier; on the contrary, he found that the extra space just made things even more complicated.

To begin with, Keita's FB seemed to be moving all over the place and soon Ryosuke found he needed to employ as much effort to keep his car on the correct racing line as it did trying to close the many gaps each corner opened up to the FB. Ryosuke didn't even have the time to realise that, with the right-hander they had just left behind, there only were two more corners to go and instead, he focused his attention on the penultimate one.

As he had done up to that moment, Ryosuke delayed braking for as long as he could, shifting into gear at the same time as he entered the corner then, forgetting the brake pedal existed, he pressed the accelerator while he turned the steering wheel just enough to send the car into a slide, getting it across the road hoping that this would make it impossible for Keita to overtake him. Exiting the corner, he started breathing again.

Just then, he noticed Rin and Junichi standing right behind the guardrail at the last left-hander before the finish line. Ryosuke went to repeat the procedure when, glancing at the rear view mirror, he saw that the FB's headlights were no longer there. His slight worry turned into an almost uncontrolled panic when he saw the red Mazda reflected on the passenger's side wing mirror as it levelled with the white one.

In one last desperate attempt at keeping his lead, Ryosuke tried to enter into the corner tightening his line as much as he could without sending the FB crashing against the guardrail when, to his surprise, he saw that Keita was doing exactly that. For some bizarre reason, the older man seemed to aim straight for the metallic barrier and, if that hadn't freaked Ryosuke out, what happened in the following instants did the trick.

Seeing the FB set on a certain collision route against the guardrail, Ryosuke found himself opening up the line as to try and give Keita the space he desperately needed to avoid a catastrophe and, just then, the older driver seemed to operate a small miracle which allowed to the red Mazda to recover its line and a moment later, Ryosuke was forced to watch Keita's FB crossing the finish line, effectively winning the race.

'What the…' he muttered while a bitter taste invaded his mouth.

He, Takahashi Ryosuke, had just lost his first street race.

This time, it was he who performed a miracle and, instead of obeying his hurt ego, driving away as fast as the rotary engine could take him, Ryosuke forced himself to stop right next to Keita's car. Taking as long as it was decent to get out of the FC, hoping that, this way, he would have enough time to try and put together some of his shattered dignity.

'Hey,' Keita said looking anything but amused, 'that was some race.'

'You won,' Ryosuke replied hoping he wouldn't sound too whinny.

'Yes, I did,' Keita said, 'but to be honest, I only won because I know the course and you don't.'

'What do you mean?' Ryosuke asked.

'That last corner there,' Keita explained, 'you can take it using a very unorthodox line and you can still clear it.'

'I saw that,' Ryosuke said flatly.

'Hey,' Keita said, 'what you did back there, at the C-121, no one other than Tomizawa-san had ever made miss the exit line so badly, you were putting so much pressure on me that it drove me into making a stupid mistake.'

'You still won the race in the end,' Ryosuke pointed out.

'Of course he did!' the then heard Rin's angry voice exclaiming, 'what did I tell you?'

'Rin…' Junichi tried to stop him.

'I did tell you not to race anyone, didn't I?' Rin asked a slightly mortified looking Ryosuke.

'Rin,' Keita intervened, 'he doesn't need a lecture now, okay? It was a friendly race and it was awfully close.'

'Really?' Junichi asked looking surprised.

'Yes,' Keita replied still staring at Rin, 'Takahashi was superb and, if he keeps this up, I think he'll be downright scary when he'll get to know all the passes. In all honesty,' he added this time looking at Ryosuke, 'if we were to race again in here, I don't think I would win.'

'That's far too kind of you,' Ryosuke protested.

'I'm being objective,' Keita countered, 'to think you've been driving for less than two months…'

'Rin,' Junichi said, 'I think that we should enter him into the next race for amateurs at the Nikko circuit.'

'Is that another autocross event?' Ryosuke asked him.

'No,' Rin replied, 'it'll be a proper race with several cars competing for first place.'

'It's an excellent idea,' Keita said nodding his approval.

'I don't know,' Rin said.

'Why not?' Ryosuke challenged him, 'are you going to enter it?'

'No,' Rin replied, 'but you remember which school uses the circuit for their training sessions, don't you?'

'The Todou Juku,' Ryosuke replied.

'Exactly,' Rin said.

'Sudo will be there, won't he?' Ryosuke asked him.

'More than likely,' Rin said.

'In that case, I definitely want to take part in the race,' Ryosuke replied surprising him and everybody else, 'when is it?'

'The second Saturday of July,' Junichi told him, 'you've got just over two weeks to get ready.'

'I'll be there,' Ryosuke promised.

'I knew you'd say that,' Keita said smiling supportively.

'Alright,' Rin said, 'since you're so eager, I'll call the organisers so that I can submit your entry.'

'No,' Ryosuke said, 'thanks for the offer but I'll do that myself. Hojo-senpai, you're always very kind to me and I'm truly grateful for that but I do want to be as independent as possible. Please try to understand that.'

'I do,' Rin said, 'contrary to popular belief, I do understand that feeling.'

'Thank you,' Ryosuke said preventing Keita from saying anything, 'now, if you all excuse me, I think I'll go home.'

'Sure,' Rin said.

'Nishihara-san,' Ryosuke added, 'thank you for racing me: I have learned a very important lesson tonight.'

'I'm sure you have,' Keita said offering him a smile.

'I'll see you all tomorrow,' Ryosuke said climbing into the FC.

While he drove back to Takasaki, Ryosuke did his best to convince himself that losing could also be a positive experience. He imprinted into his memory the humiliation he'd felt seeing Keita winning the race and, from then on, he decided to use it as a motivator to prevent himself from ever losing a race again. Ryosuke promised to his FC that Nishihara Keita would be the first and last racer to defeat them in a street battle.

_To be continued…_


	8. Chapter Seven

A/N: I took a mini-break to get the ideas together for the upcoming chapters. Hopefully this update will be worth the wait! Also, I'd love to know who among my usual readers is still with me so, if you can, please give me a sign telling me that you're alive, okay? ^_^

As always, thanks for reading!

**Planetarium**

_Chapter Seven_

The morning after his first unofficial street race, Ryosuke drove his FC to the car park by Iwasaki's train station getting there over fifteen minutes before the pre-arranged time. Turning the 13B engine off, Ryosuke used that time to carry on elaborating the theory he'd come up with while he lied on his bed, his hyperactive brain making it impossible for him to fall asleep as it went through his battle versus Keita's FB for the umpteenth time.

He had figured out by now that there were at least four elements which helped any given driver win a race: his skills, his car, information about both the course and the opponents and, very often, just a dose of good luck. He was well aware that he still had a lot of work to do in terms of improving his skills and even though his knowledge about automotive mechanics was improving quickly, he knew that he still had a massive void to fill when it came to the secrets of the passes and the myriad of potential rivals he would encounter in them.

Those two issues were the ones he would need to address sooner rather than later.

Ryosuke was thinking of how he could juggle that in addition to everything else when he saw the three cars belonging to Rin, Keita and Junichi driving into the station's parking area and that, forced him to stop elaborating his newborn theory on how to be the fastest possible racer so that he could climb out of the car and greet the three older men.

'Good morning,' he said to them.

'Hey,' Rin replied, 'how are you?'

'I'm fine,' Ryosuke said.

'I told you he'd be okay,' Keita told his best friend looking like he was in a much better mood.

'I have the feeling that it takes more than a defeat to make him lose his cool,' Junichi commented.

'I've told you before,' Keita said talking to him, 'I got really lucky last night, if it hadn't been because…'

'Nishihara-san,' Ryosuke interrupted him, 'please don't make me say it again, you're just being far too kind.'

'I…'

'We should get going,' Rin announced stopping Keita at mid-sentence, 'or we'll be late for the registration.'

'Alright,' the guy agreed a little reluctantly.

A few moments later, the four cars entered the Kanetsu Sportsland circuit and shortly after they completed the administrative procedure to get their names on the entry lists and while Keita and Junichi took care of their own registration, Ryosuke noticed how the number of cars had somehow increased, he was about to ask Rin if there was any specific reason when the man told him:

'It's summer.'

'Pardon?' Ryosuke asked.

'There usually are more racers entering autocross events during summer,' Rin explained.

'Is it because of the nicer weather or because people have more time off?' Ryosuke asked.

'A bit of both,' Rin replied, 'but this shouldn't matter to you, should it?'

'Not really,' Ryosuke agreed.

'That's right,' Rin said, 'listen, about that race in Nikko…'

'I'll call their offices tomorrow,' Ryosuke told him firmly.

'So, you still want to take part in it,' Rin asked.

'Of course,' Ryosuke replied, 'I…'

'It's okay,' the older man interrupted him, 'I'm not against it: I do think you can do well in a circuit race.'

'As opposed to a street one,' Ryosuke said a little slyly.

'Definitely,' Rin replied mercilessly, 'I'm not against you entering that world, what I'm against is if you do it while you're not ready for it. I hope that last night served to make you realise how unprepared you are.'

'It did,' Ryosuke admitted.

'I'm glad to hear that,' Rin said, 'now, I wanted to inform you that unfortunately I won't be able to make it to the Nikko race, it's my younger brother's birthday and the whole family are going to gather to celebrate.'

'Of course,' Ryosuke said, 'if it's family, it can't be helped.'

'I'm glad you understand,' Rin said, 'I'll ask Keita to record the race with his camcorder so that I can see it.'

'That's not really necessary, I…'

'I want to watch it,' Rin insisted.

'Alright,' Ryosuke accepted.

Just then they were re-joined by Junichi and Keita and the four of them made it to their cars so that they could get them queued up for the start of the practice laps, and when it finally was Ryosuke's turn, he drove onto the track expecting some improvement in the way his FC handled the circuit's corners but, what he felt as he took the car around the first turn left him as speechless as the first time he'd seen a four-wheel inertia drift.

'Oh,' he only managed to gasp in surprise.

The FC's stability was superb and within just three corners, Ryosuke realised that the work they had put into the car made it possible for him to brake much later and exit the turns much faster than before. The steering also seemed to be more precise and he could now calibrate the way he went around a corner with a much higher level of accuracy. The FC had become so much more enjoyable to drive that it made Ryosuke immensely happy.

He knew that he wasn't the only one impressed by his car when, returning to the small parking area, he spotted Rin, Keita and Junichi with the same stunned expression on their faces and that widened his smile.

'Now, that's what I call driving,' Rin commented.

'Yeah,' Keita agreed then, clearly teasing Junichi, he added, 'man, I think you should give up.'

'I think so too,' the poor guy admitted.

'Never say never,' Ryosuke tried to make him feel better, 'yours was the second fastest time.'

'Yes,' Junichi agreed, 'but you were over eleven seconds faster, there's no way my EG6 can beat that.'

As it turned out, the guy's prediction was spot on and when the event's organisers called it a day, Ryosuke's FC was topping the scoreboard having beaten the track's record for non-modified cars by a full ten seconds. Needless to say, Ryosuke was looking forward to seeing Shuichi so that he could tell him about the massive improvement that a few tweaks here and there had managed to accomplish.

For this reason and as soon as the professor concluded his biology lecture the following day, Ryosuke practically darted out of the classroom on his way to the students' car park. There, standing right in front of his FC, he found Kaori obviously waiting for him.

'Hey,' he forced himself to say.

'Hello,' Kaori said.

'Where's Hojo-senpai?' Ryosuke asked her as casually as he could.

'He's gone with his father for some seminar on hospital management,' Kaori replied.

'I see,' Ryosuke said.

'Listen,' Kaori started, 'a few people from my year are having a party by the shore of Lake Ono tonight.'

'A party?' Ryosuke asked.

'Yes,' Kaori replied, 'it's more of a get-together really but I think it'll be fun, would you like to join us?'

'I'm not sure if…'

'Hojo-san will also be there,' Kaori hurried to add, 'he told me he'd come as soon as the seminar is over.'

'That's not it,' Ryosuke said, 'I'm going to work now and…'

'You're working?' Kaori asked him.

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied, 'and I'm going to be late if I don't leave soon, so…'

'I see,' Kaori said, 'well, if you can make it at all, we'll probably be there until quite late this evening.'

Ryosuke didn't say anything not wanting to make a promise he had no intention of keeping. Instead, he thought that if there were so many people partying by the lake, he would probably need to wait until the wee hours of the morning in order to have the road all to himself.

'I should get going,' he said sounding a little harsher than he intended.

'Alright,' Kaori said frowning a bit.

'I'll see you tomorrow,' Ryosuke then added making an obvious effort to be nicer.

'Of course,' the girl replied, almost humouring him.

He got onboard the FC while the girl walked away from him and as usual, Ryosuke spent a few moments shaking off the odd feeling which invaded him whenever he spent any given amount of time alone with Kaori.

'Let's go,' he muttered turning the 13B's engine on.

A short while later, he drove his car into the workshop in Isesaki where he and Shuichi worked, finding the older mechanic talking to a smart dressed, short haired man who appeared to be in his mid twenties and who was holding an expensive looking leather briefcase.

'That's him!' Shuichi exclaimed seeing Ryosuke getting out of the FC.

'Good afternoon,' he said eyeing the stranger with polite curiosity.

'Takahashi-san,' Shuichi said, 'please met Fumihiro Hiroshi; he works as a sales representative for Mazdaspeed.'

'It's nice to meet you,' Hiroshi said offering him his hand.

'Same here,' Ryosuke said shaking it briefly but firmly.

'Matsumoto here tells me that you're quite the racer as well as having a natural knack for mechanics,' Hiroshi said.

'He's exaggerating,' Ryosuke said.

'No, I'm not,' Shuichi countered, 'who beat the Kanetsu record only yesterday?'

'Did Nishihara-san tell you?' Ryosuke asked feeling a little disappointed that it no longer was breaking news.

'Of course he did,' Shuichi said, 'he called me this morning telling me you're going to enter the race at the Nikko circuit.'

Ryosuke could only nod while he made a mental note to tell Keita to try and mind his own business a bit.

'In that case,' Hiroshi said producing something resembling a magazine from his briefcase, 'you might need this.'

'What is it?' Ryosuke asked him.

'It's our catalogue,' Hiroshi replied, 'we don't usually sell parts to individuals but, since you seem to be friends with Matsumoto, I guess I can make an exception so, if you see anything you like that you might want to install in your car, feel free to give me a call, my direct number's printed on the back cover.'

'Alright,' Ryosuke said taking the rather thick catalogue.

'You'll need to hurry up and pick the parts you want soon,' Shuichi told him.

'Why is that?' Ryosuke asked.

'Because unfortunately not all of them are immediately available,' Hiroshi explained, 'we only keep a limited stock of them.'

'I see,' Ryosuke said, 'I'll take a look at it tonight and I'll let you know first thing tomorrow morning.'

'Perfect,' Hiroshi replied.

'Speaking of the race,' Shuichi said, 'we're going to need to work on your car to prepare it for Nikko and…'

'Matsumoto-san,' Ryosuke interrupted him, 'I think that, this time, I'd like to figure out which settings I'll need on my own, I will only ask if you can please check the car after I've finished working on it, just in case I've made any mistakes.'

'Alright,' Shuichi said, 'that's fine by me.'

'You're an independent guy, aren't you?' Hiroshi asked him.

'As much as I can,' Ryosuke confirmed.

'I admire that,' Hiroshi told him then, to Shuichi, he said, 'he really is everything you said and more.'

Ryosuke tried very hard not to look as embarrassed as he felt and, instead, he just bowed to the two men and then walked to the changing rooms so that he could put his overalls on to start working on his car. By the time he returned, he saw that the man called Hiroshi Fumihiro was now talking to the workshop's owner while Shuichi was busy reorganising his tools after he'd finished fixing the engine of an old Nissan Sunny pick up truck.

Taking a photocopied page of a local sports magazine which talked about the Nikko circuit, he inspected the configuration of the track seeing that while there were quite a few fast turns and even a couple of straights, the rest were very tight, almost hairpin-like corners which meant that he needed to do some work on the FC suspensions as well as installing a set of brand new high performance brake pads. It wouldn't hurt to check the gearbox and the clutch, just to make sure that all parts in both elements were in pristine order.

'Are you sure you don't need a hand?' Shuichi asked him seeing that he'd been staring at the car for a while.

'No, thank you,' Ryosuke said, 'I was just thinking.'

'About what?' Shuichi asked him.

'A number of things,' Ryosuke replied all-too-vaguely.

With that, he left Shuichi standing there looking very confused. The mechanic recovered fast for he was slowly getting used to the way the younger man seemed to always be thinking about something, Shuichi had no idea of what exactly. Shrugging his shoulders, the man smirked to himself and went back to work. Oblivious to this, Ryosuke got onboard his car and drove it to the lifting platform, parking it on top of it so that he could remove the tyres, he was working on the fourth one when he saw Hiroshi walking up to him.

'Takahashi-san,' he said, 'I'm leaving now but, please call me if you have any questions about any of the parts.'

'I will,' Ryosuke promised, 'thank you for making an exception for me.'

'No problem,' Hiroshi said with a kind looking smile.

Ryosuke observed as the man made his way to where Shuichi was. Ryosuke had to applaud the subtle but highly effective sales method Hiroshi had employed to get him to feel even more curious about the catalogue which was now resting inside the FC and while he had met quite a few cunning people in his life, the salesman probably made it to the top five. In spite of that, Ryosuke felt that there was something about the guy which made people instantly like him.

For this reason, later on that evening and while Shuichi checked Ryosuke's work, the future doctor started browsing through the catalogue while he enjoyed a glass of iced tea. Very quickly, Ryosuke was so enthralled by the sheer number of parts which were on offer that he even missed when Shuichi called his name. The mechanic had to get down from the platform and walk up to him to say:

'Hey, are you deaf?'

'What?' Ryosuke asked making an effort to take his eyes off the catalogue.

'I said that you did a very good job,' Shuichi said sounding a little annoyed.

'Thanks,' Ryosuke replied then, pointing at the page he was reading, he asked, 'what do you think?'

'Of what?' Shuichi asked.

'These wheels,' Ryosuke said, 'the description says that they're made of a special, much lighter alloy.'

'Let me see,' Shuichi told him taking the catalogue from him, 'ah, I've read about them,' he added scanning the box containing the part's specs, 'and it's handy, they say here the MS-01 MAG come in both bronze and white.'

'I was thinking of getting the white ones,' Ryosuke confirmed.

'Of course,' Shuichi said, 'and to be honest, it would help if you could get them before the race.'

'I know,' Ryosuke agreed.

'Is there anything else you'd like to order?' Shuichi asked.

'I'm not sure yet,' Ryosuke replied, 'but I know that I need to get something to improve the down force.'

'You need to get a set of skirts then,' Shuichi said making Ryosuke frown at him in worry, 'not _that_ kind of skirts!' he exclaimed looking a bit amused while Ryosuke just stared at him with a deadpan expression on his face, 'let me see if I can find an example…'

Ryosuke waited until Shuichi found the right page and then the mechanic showed him a set of long aerodynamic elements which had to be applied to each side of the car made in either fibreglass or urethane. He looked up his FC and tried to picture it with the skirts on and, somehow, he thought it would look a bit weird.

'These are good,' Shuichi commented pointing at the ones Ryosuke was thinking of.

'Would they really help?' he asked him trying not to sound sceptic.

'Well,' Shuichi said, 'let's put it this way: the way your car is now, it's probably okay for autocross and for everyday driving but if you're going to start racing with other cars, you need to take into consideration that they're going to disrupt the air flow and then you'll need all the help you can get in order to keep your car stuck onto the ground.'

'That sounds reasonable,' Ryosuke conceded.

'I can't tell you what you should do but…'

'I'll get them,' Ryosuke said, 'and I think I should also get something for the front of the car.'

'Yes,' Shuichi said, 'I was already thinking of that.'

'Any ideas?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Actually,' Shuichi replied, 'don't tell Fumihiro about this but I already had something in mind.'

'Okay,' Ryosuke said.

'Don't you want to know what it is?' Shuichi asked him sounding a little surprised.

'No,' Ryosuke replied, 'I trust your judgement, now, I should let you go home or you'll be late for dinner.'

'That's awfully kind of you,' Shuichi said with a smirk.

Ryosuke didn't return the smirk but the pleased expression on his face made it obvious that he was fairly happy about the slow but steady way in which his FC was going from a regular road car into a proper racer. Two weeks after that, the transformation process was almost complete and what used to look like a more or less sensible sports car; now with the Mazdaspeed skirts, the MS-01 MAG white wheels, a Fujita Engineering lip and a set of RE-Amemiya aero mirrors the FC looked ready to take on any professional touring car race.

'I know it will sound self-serving,' Hiroshi commented staring at the Mazda, 'but it looks great.'

'It does,' Shuichi agreed one hundred percent, 'what do you think?'

'I'm going to take it for a spin,' Ryosuke decided, 'I'll let you know when I get back.'

The younger man climbed in the car and, turning the newly tuned 13B engine, taking a moment to enjoy every single one of its three hundred horsepower before driving away from the workshop and to the nearest road he could find leaving Shuichi shaking his head in fatherly resignation while Hiroshi looked a little bit worried.

'He's very happy,' the mechanic told him noticing his frown.

'But…'

'Fumihiro,' Shuichi insisted, 'I don't know him that well but I think this is as giddy as we're ever going to see him so don't worry, he really was pleased with the parts he's got from you.'

'And the ones he got from _you_,' Hiroshi added with a hint of sarcasm.

'Yeah, well…'

'Don't worry,' Hiroshi interrupted him, 'I like him so I'm not going to turn him into some sort of cash cow.'

'I'm glad to hear that,' Shuichi said, 'he's a really great guy, in fact, I was thinking of going to Nikko to watch his race.'

'It's tomorrow, isn't it?' Hiroshi asked.

'Yes,' Shuichi replied, 'do you think you could make it?'

'Sure,' Hiroshi said, 'it's Sunday so I'm off work. Besides, I'm rather curious to see how he'll do with that FC.'

'Me too,' Shuichi agreed, 'let's just not tell him we'll show up, okay?'

'Why not?' Hiroshi asked him, 'do you want to surprise him?'

'Something like that,' Shuichi replied with a sheepish smile on his face.

Later on that evening, an ecstatic Ryosuke drove his newly modified FC back home after having verified that the car was several seconds faster on Mt Akagi's uphill, feeling even more comforted by the thought that the Mazda hadn't even been set up for the mountain pass. He could only guess what it would feel like driving the car around the Nikko circuit but he was so excited thinking about it that he doubted he would get any sleep that night.

From the inside of the FC he pressed the button on his tiny remote to open up the garage's gates and, as he rolled the car in, he noticed that Keisuke's CBR 400 was parked there at its usual spot. Checking his wristwatch, he saw that it was just past ten o'clock and Ryosuke found it odd that his younger brother was still home at that time of the evening.

'All the better,' he muttered to himself.

Climbing out of the Mazda, Ryosuke pressed the button to close the gates and then, using the connection door, he went into the house, removed his new white driving shoes and put on his pair of comfy slippers. Then, not wanting to lose momentum, he walked into the house, briefly greeting his mother who was in the living room watching some TV drama before he went upstairs by-passing his bedroom, making it to Keisuke's instead. Without bothering to knock on the door, Ryosuke opened it and…

'Sorry!' he hurried to say immediately closing it again.

Swallowing hard, he tried to remember how to breathe while he removed the image of his half naked brother lying on top of some even less dressed girl. He was about to rush towards his bedroom when he heard the room's door opening again.

'Aniki…'

'Sorry,' Ryosuke repeated finding it hard to look at his younger brother's face, 'I should have knocked.'

'It's okay,' Keisuke had the cheek to say, 'Karin didn't mind.'

'Karin?' Ryosuke asked then, lowering his tone of voice, he said, 'I thought your girlfriend's name was Ami.'

'Nah,' Keisuke replied with a chuckle, 'we broke up a couple of weeks ago.'

'Ah,' Ryosuke said, 'I see.'

'Aniki,' Keisuke said, 'what is it that you wanted?'

'Er…' Ryosuke hesitated for an instant, fighting to gather his thoughts, 'do you have plans for tomorrow?'

'Yes,' Keisuke replied, 'I'm taking Karin to the cinema in the morning, then we'll do lunch and then I'm meeting the guys, why?'

'No reason,' Ryosuke said trying to hide his disappointment, 'it's okay, don't worry about it. You better go back inside…' he stopped talking realising the different meanings his words could have. Feeling very embarrassed, he just said, 'I've got stuff to do so, good night.'

'Good night, Aniki,' Keisuke said trying, and failing, to keep a straight face.

Shaking his head, Ryosuke walked away from his younger brother who hurried to step back into the mayhem he called his room. The future doctor could not believe the cheek Keisuke had: not only he hadn't even looked ashamed of the fact that he had a half-naked girl in his bed while their mother was just a floor below but, if anything, the sixteen year old seemed to be quite proud of it. It was a good thing their father was away for some business trip, Ryosuke thought locking himself in his own room.

The following morning, he got up after managing only a couple of hours of solid sleep. He took a long reinvigorating shower, got dressed with a pair of comfortable beige trousers and a white linen shirt and then went downstairs to have breakfast by himself. He spent a few moments reading the paper before he decided that he was ready to go to the garage so that he could get into his beloved FC.

An hour and a half later, he drove it into the car park of the Nikko Circuit where, as he expected, he found a few members of the Todou Juku Racing School and among them, of course, he saw that Kyoichi was there surrounded by what looked like his own fan club.

'Hey,' Keita greeted Ryosuke, 'how are you feeling?'

'I'm great,' he replied still staring at Kyoichi.

As it was inevitable, some of his mates/fans noticed Ryosuke's gaze on him and one of them was heard asking:

'Sudo-san, who is that?'

'No idea,' was Kyoichi's uncaring reply, 'I've never seen him before.'

Ryosuke felt his eyebrows rise in surprise but, training his features back to normal, he returned his attention to Keita and Junichi while he was pleased to see two other men joining his small group of friends. Seeing them there made Ryosuke forget all about Kyoichi and, instead, he smiled at Shuichi and Hiroshi and, speaking to the mechanic, he said:

'I'd like to say I'm surprised to see you here but, somehow, I kind of expected it.'

'I know you would,' Shuichi said, 'but we still wanted to try.'

'Hey,' Keita intervened, 'you guys have done a very nice job on the FC.'

'It wasn't me,' Shuichi said, 'Takahashi-san did most of the work by himself.'

'Really?' Junichi asked.

'Yep,' Shuichi confirmed looking almost like a proud mother.

'I can't wait to see what you'll do with it,' Keita said to Ryosuke.

'You won't have to wait for long,' he replied, 'if everything goes according to the schedule, there should be a short qualifying session about half an hour from now, they're giving us five laps each to set our fastest time to decide our position on the starting grid.'

'Take it easy, okay?' Shuichi tried to advise him.

Ryosuke didn't even grace that with an answer, instead, he said:

'I should get changed and get the number stuck onto the car. Since you're here, could you please take care of that and the covers?'

'Sure,' Shuichi said taking the roll of black tape and the square stickers with the number 34 that Ryosuke carried in his hand.

'Thanks,' he said.

Twenty five minutes later, Ryosuke was back onboard the FC which now sported a pair of stickers and black tape crosses protecting the light's plastic covers while he donned a helmet and a white racing suit he had just bought for the occasion; he soon found himself trailing after a brand new Toyota Supra Mark III painted in such bright orange that it would probably hurt his eyes if he stared at it for too long.

Fortunately, the A70 took off the instant the two cars reached the track and that helped Ryosuke concentrate on memorising the circuit's braking and shifting points, its ideal racing lines as well as trying to spot any potentially problematic elements around the track which could make his race a more difficult one. He invested two of his five laps doing that and, the instant he crossed the finish line to start his third lap, everyone noticed the FC's sudden increase of speed.

'What is he doing?' Hiroshi asked to no one in particular.

'I think he's going for it,' Keita replied sounding fairly amused.

'I just hope he doesn't wreck the car,' Junichi added.

'Don't say that!' both Keita and Shuichi exclaimed at the same time.

'Sorry…'

Ignoring him, both men kept their eyes glued to the all-white FC as it went around the first few corners. Shuichi got goose bumps when he saw the almost perfect way in which Ryosuke chose the correct moment to reduce speed, just before the entry of the corner, only to stick to its apex while opening the throttle to the max. Turn after turn, Shuichi noticed that Ryosuke's driving was getting sharper and, by the end of the fifth lap, it was clear that the man, car and track understood each other as well as a trio of old friends.

'Oh wow,' Keita gasped.

'What?' Junichi asked sounding a little apprehensive; his tone turned a happy one when he said, 'oh crap!'

'Yes!' Shuichi exclaimed cheerfully while Hiroshi just smiled and asked:

'Are we sure he's never been here before?'

'Positive,' Keita replied, 'he's quite scary, isn't he?'

No one bothered to answer that question but they all silently agreed with him.

Shortly after that, all four of them walked down the short pitlane to go and meet the pole holder.

'Well done mate,' Keita said slapping his shoulder playfully.

'Thanks,' Ryosuke said cracking up one of his rare smiles, 'the car felt great, I…'

He never finished the sentence because, right then, a furious Kyoichi walked up to him and said:

'Just because you've slapped some fancy aero-kit onto it, it doesn't mean it's a true racing car and don't be too happy about your pole, the race is thirty laps long and I'll overtake you before we get to the first corner.'

Ryosuke just looked at Kyoichi for a bit then, using his coolest and most unnerving tone of voice, he said:

'I'm sorry but, do I know you?'

_To be continued…_


	9. Chapter Eight

A/N: I'm glad to see that quite a few of you are still with me! ^_^

Also, I hope you guys will like the first of the Kyoichi vs Ryosuke confrontations, expect many more to come!

As always, thanks for reading.

**Planetarium**

_Chapter Eight_

Walking away from a furious Kyoichi amused Ryosuke almost as much as seeing the expressions on the four older men who were with him: while Junichi looked stunned and Keita was clearly trying hard not to laugh, Shuichi and Hiroshi both shook their heads in disbelief as they watched him making his way towards the FC.

'Don't take it personal,' Keita advised Kyoichi, 'that's just the way he is.'

Kyoichi didn't even answer. Instead, he glared in Ryosuke's direction before re-joining the rest of the Todou Juku students.

'He sure is good at making friends,' Hiroshi commented speaking to Shuichi.

'Yes, I don't like him one bit,' the mechanic replied.

'You don't?' Hiroshi asked sounding surprised.

'No,' Shuichi confirmed, 'that Sudo guy is…'

'Who's talking about him?' Hiroshi interrupted him.

'Er…'

'I was talking about Takahashi,' Hiroshi said with a smirk.

'Speaking of whom,' Keita intervened, 'we should go to him before he gets "friendly" with another racer.'

'That's a good idea,' Junichi agreed.

Soon, all four men watched Ryosuke climb into his car, getting ready for the start of the race while the other drivers did the same. A few moments later, they saw him rolling his car towards the starting grid and they took that as their cue to go and find some seats at the grandstands. There, Keita got his precious Sony camcorder and set it up to start recording what he knew would be one heck of a race.

Meanwhile with the 13B turned off and while he waited for the track's official to commence the starting procedures, Ryosuke took a few moments to concentrate as he went through, once again, everything he'd seen during the walk around the track that he and the other racers had been allowed to take just after their pre-race meeting.

He glanced at the car parked next to his and with a smirk, he wondered if Kyoichi would honour the rules the organisation had set during said meeting, asking all drivers to keep car contact to the bare minimum. It wasn't that Ryosuke was too afraid of getting too close for comfort with other racers but, if at all possible, he wanted to take the FC back home in one piece, especially after all the time and money he'd invested on it.

He had just completed that thought when he saw one of the track's marshals lifting up a green flag signalling that everything was ready. A few moments later, Ryosuke saw the small overhead semaphore being lit in red which was the moment when every driver had to turn their cars' engines on. Ryosuke turned the key on the ignition and allowed himself to enjoy the powerful sensation that action made him feel every single time, he then settled on the newly installed bucket seat happy that he'd had enough time to get used to the different point of view. Tightening his grasp on the steering wheel, he realised that this was it: this was his very first official race.

With the semaphore turning green, his brain stopped thinking of anything else but what needed to be done in order to get the car moving as fast as possible. He knew he had a slight advantage over Kyoichi's car, a white 1990 Mitsubishi Eterna ZR-4, but he was also aware that the E39A's two litre I4 engine was probably even more heavily tuned than the FC's 13B. For this reason, Ryosuke decided to enter the first right-hander blocking the way the best way he could all the while doing his best not to glance at the rear view mirrors.

Somehow, he managed to stay on the lead but he could almost physically feel Kyoichi's car pressing and as he exited the first corner, he knew that the pressure would only get heavier as the race went on. For this reason, Ryosuke started trying to pull away from the Mitsubishi by pushing the FC as much as he dared. A couple of laps later, he finally gave in the temptation to see if his efforts were paying off and to his surprise, he saw that they weren't: the E39A was still very much stuck at the back of the FCS3.

'How is he doing that?' Ryosuke muttered to himself.

He spent the following three laps trying to figure out if Kyoichi was doing anything differently, unfortunately, having to concentrate on the track ahead of him made it very difficult to keep an eye on the car behind him. Then, curiosity got the best of him and, as the two cars cleared the last left-hander of the circuit and as they cruised down the main straight, Ryosuke did the unthinkable by moving over and letting Kyoichi overtake him.

'What is he doing?' a scandalised Shuichi asked.

'No idea,' Keita replied.

Hiroshi just let out a chuckle while Junichi was just frozen unable to do anything but to watch as the Mitsubishi drove into the first right-hander ahead of the FC. They then heard the cheering from some of Kyoichi's mates and that made the four guys feel rather upset while they hoped that, whatever strategy Ryosuke had in mind would end up working, otherwise they feared Kyoichi would literally beat the crap out of him.

Back at the track, Ryosuke was now tailing Kyoichi and for the following four laps he focused on the other guy's driving style noticing that, while Kyoichi was indeed pretty quick, he was also quite rough in the way he tackled the corners but not to the point of being aggressive. Ryosuke couldn't pinpoint what it was but he had the feeling that Kyoichi was driving like that on purpose, as if it was a carefully devised simulation.

This sensation only increased when he noticed that, lap after lap, the lines Kyoichi chose to drive around the corners changed, Ryosuke also noticed that the rhythm the E39A imposed on the race was just as irregular and with half of the race's thirty laps covered, Ryosuke finally figured out what Kyoichi was trying to do.

'It won't work,' he said as if he were talking to his rival.

Just to prove his point, Ryosuke drove behind the white Mitsubishi for another two laps making sure he kept his own rhythm and stuck to the racing line he felt was best suited for his FC. A quick check at the rear view mirror told him he had that painfully bright orange Toyota Supra behind him but he forced himself not to be concerned by the A70's presence. Instead, he focused his attention on preparing for the first of his overtaking attempts.

At lap twenty one, Ryosuke had already singled out the spot in which he would try to pass Kyoichi when, just as the two white cars cleared one of the hairpin-like corners, they found a red S12 spinning out of control. Ryosuke watched as if it were in slow motion as Kyoichi did his best to avoid the Nissan by driving wide onto the grass just off the left side of the track. He was about to do the same when he saw a gap opening up to the right, leaving just enough space for his FC to pass in between the wall and the red Silvia.

Pressing the accelerator down, he fought the urge to close his eyes trying not to think about what he was doing and the instant he left the S12 behind, he saw that Kyoichi was also re-joining the track and because of this, both cars were level as they approached the chicane. Ryosuke somehow knew that his FC was slightly faster than the E39A and that he only needed to keep up the momentum to make it to the chicane ahead.

Inside the Mitsubishi, Kyoichi was forced to slow down as he saw that the FC had absolutely no intention of doing so and, up at the grandstands, they all watched the moment when the FC entered the chicane leaving the E39A with no option but to get back behind. Needless to say, the Todou Juku students weren't happy.

'What?' Keita asked sounding sarcastically amused, 'no cheering this time?'

'Shush,' Junichi said, 'they'll hear you.'

'I hope they do,' Keita countered earning himself a few glares courtesy of Kyoichi's mates.

Well aware that the race was far from over and that anything could happen, Ryosuke decided that he had gathered enough information about Kyoichi's driving style and, during the following three laps, he tried to see if he could somehow replicate it with his own driving, also to study the effect that had on Kyoichi himself.

Ryosuke didn't have to wait for too long to see that Kyoichi had clearly fallen into the trap and his E39A was now copying the lines and rhythm imposed by the FC. Alas, Ryosuke knew that this tactic wasn't going to win him the race because Kyoichi could still overtake him at any given moment during the five laps they had left, for this reason Ryosuke knew that for this final stint he would have to go back to his usual driving style.

At the start of lap twenty six, the FC clearly increased the speed but so did the E39A.

The Mitsubishi chased after the Mazda for the following three laps with Kyoichi doing his very best to stay right behind Ryosuke. Then, as they crossed the finish line for the penultimate time, Kyoichi pressed his way into the inside of the track, pushing his car to its limits as the FC was getting ready to tackle the first corner.

Both cars made it to the right-hander at the same time and, for a fleeting moment, it looked like the E39A would just ram into the FC when, all of a sudden, Ryosuke just moved out of the way, letting Kyoichi drive ahead into the turn. The Todou Juku students started cheering but their cry of joy was quickly killed when they saw the white E39A understeering into the corner while the FC just drove past him without any problem.

If that wasn't bad enough and while Kyoichi fought to get his car back on its ideal trajectory, he saw the bright orange A70 overtaking him, robbing him of his second place as well. A couple of minutes later, the race was over: Ryosuke's FC had won it, followed by the A70 with a most unhappy Kyoichi finishing third.

'That was some race,' Keita commented turning the camcorder off.

'That kid's nuts,' Junichi added.

'I don't think so,' Hiroshi countered.

'What do you mean?' Shuichi asked him.

'I'm not sure yet,' Hiroshi replied, 'but I have the feeling that Takahashi never takes any unnecessary risks.'

'Why did he let Sudo overtake him then?' Shuichi asked him.

'I'm not really sure,' Hiroshi admitted.

After a very short but tense podium ceremony, the four men joined the race's winner and as soon as they were done congratulating him, Ryosuke walked to Kyoichi and, offering him his hand and a smile, he said:

'That was a most enlightening experience, thank you.'

'Are you making fun of me?' Kyoichi spat, clearly refusing the handshake.

'No,' Ryosuke said lowering his arm, 'I find the way you drive quite interesting, I'm glad I got to study it.'

'You ba…'

'Hey, hey,' Keita intervened, 'let's keep it civil, alright?'

'This is not the end of this!' Kyoichi exclaimed, 'mark my words: I'll beat you in the next race!'

'I'm looking forward to that,' Ryosuke replied sounding unnervingly calm.

The four older men saw it wise to remove him from Kyoichi's presence before the racing student murdered him and, just as they were trying to get him to walk away, they saw the owner of the Todou Juku School making his way towards Ryosuke.

'Hey,' the ex-racer told him, 'that was a really good race.'

'Thank you,' Ryosuke said.

'Say,' the man continued, 'you're not going to change your mind about joining my school, are you?'

'No, sir,' Ryosuke replied politely.

'That's too bad,' Todou said, 'but I think I'll keep an eye on you, I'm sure you'll become a professional soon.'

'I doubt it,' Ryosuke replied.

'Son,' Todou said offering him a fatherly smile, 'I think I know about racing more than you do and I can tell you that you have what it takes to make it big in this world so, don't try to be too modest, okay?'

'It's not modesty,' Ryosuke countered, 'it's just that I'm not interested in becoming a professional driver.'

'You're not?' Hiroshi asked him unable to help himself.

'No,' Ryosuke replied, 'I'm studying to become a doctor and one day I'll take over my father's hospital.'

'But…'

'Todou-san,' Ryosuke interrupted him, 'I thank you for your kind words but now I must go back home.'

With this, he just walked away from the group and towards his FC so that he could start removing the tape which covered the headlights. The owner of the racing school observed him for a moment before going to join his students who were busy trying to make their idol Kyoichi feel less miserable about his third place.

'Is he seriously not going to be a professional?' Hiroshi asked Shuichi while they made their way to the FC.

'That's what he said,' Shuichi replied.

'It's such a waste of talent, isn't it?' Keita said.

'Unbelievably so,' Hiroshi agreed.

When the four men joined Ryosuke, Shuichi saw the look Hiroshi has giving to the younger man and that made him smirk a little: he would bet his new set of spanners that Hiroshi's brain was already coming up with a selling strategy and, somehow, he found himself hoping that it would work because, it would really be very sad to see a naturally talented driver like Ryosuke not making it big in the professional racing world.

The Saturday after the race, Ryosuke was getting ready to go home after the morning lecture when he found Rin as the two made their way to the car park. The man looked happy to see Ryosuke when he said:

'Hey, I was hoping I would see you.'

'I've been here all week,' Ryosuke pointed out, 'it's you who's always really busy, Hojo-senpai.'

'I know,' Rin admitted, 'it's just that things are getting pretty crazy lately, I can't tell you much more.'

'I understand,' Ryosuke said.

'Listen,' Rin said, 'I wanted to tell you I watched the race,' Ryosuke remained silent, 'and I need to ask you to explain something to me, because according to Keita you didn't have any problems at all with your car.'

'I didn't,' Ryosuke confirmed.

'Then why did you slow down? Rin asked, 'you know, when Sudo passed you, I…'

'I did that on purpose,' Ryosuke interrupted him.

'You what?' Rin asked sounding incredulous.

'I did it on purpose,' Ryosuke repeated.

'Why?' Rin demanded.

'Because I thought it'd be interesting to study his driving style,' Ryosuke replied a little too calmly.

Rin stared at him for a short while then, he shook his head and, using a low tone of voice, he said:

'I'm frankly disappointed.'

'What?' Ryosuke asked.

'I'm disappointed in seeing how much you seem to underestimate your rivals,' Rin told him.

'Hojo-senpai…'

'Do you have any idea of how serious the guys from the Todou Juku School are?' Rin told him.

'Hojo...'

'Ryosuke,' Rin said, calling him by his first name for the first time ever, 'even if it's just an amateur race, every driver there takes it as seriously as if it were a Formula One GP. The fact that you failed to do that for the sake of studying your opponent makes me think you haven't understood a single thing about racing.'

'I…'

'I'm not saying that you shouldn't gather data while you race,' Rin continued, 'but you should never let the opponent pass you just to make things more interesting, it's an insult to him and to everyone else. I…'

'I don't agree with that,' Ryosuke interrupted, 'I think that if someone did that with me I'd feel honoured.'

'Honoured?' an incredulous Rin asked.

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied, 'it'd be an honour if someone felt the need to study my driving style.'

'Why?'

'Because it would mean that I'm doing something they find worthy of their attention,' Ryosuke replied.

'That's quite an arrogant thing to say,' Rin said.

'Maybe it is,' Ryosuke admitted, 'yet again, I was the one studying Sudo so I don't think I was too arrogant.'

'Now you're being cheeky,' Rin countered.

'I'm sorry you think so,' Ryosuke said.

An awkward silence fell onto the two men.

'Anyway,' Rin said breaking it, 'I wanted to ask you if you're you busy tonight.'

'Not really,' Ryosuke said.

'Great,' Rin said, 'then meet me here at around nine.'

'Where are we going?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Kanagawa,' Rin said.

Without bothering to elaborate, the man just climbed into his Toyota turning the engine on and leaving Ryosuke with no option but to get in his own car. While he did that, he observed the GA61 driving away and, letting out a sigh, he too turned the 13B on feeling a little upset with his senpai. It wasn't because Rin had failed to be impressed by Ryosuke's maiden win or that he had plainly disapproved of Ryosuke's actions during the race. What troubled Ryosuke was to see that not even Rin seemed to understand him.

Ryosuke knew that he had shocked everyone when he'd declared his intentions of not becoming a professional racer and he had also confused them when he'd tried to explain the reason why he had let Kyoichi overtake him and while he almost expected that from Junichi, Shuichi and Hiroshi, he was convinced that his senpai or even Keita would definitely understand. Alas, it seemed like he had been a little too optimistic.

Feeling slightly depressed about this, Ryosuke drove back home and, the instant he was up in his room, he turned his computer on ready to continue working on his theory. He was happy he'd taken part in the Nikko race for it had given him plenty of new information, including the peculiar driving style shown by Kyoichi. He had thought about it for the entire week and, after watching a few old JTCC races, he'd noticed that quite a few professional racers used the same erratic rhythm technique in order to disturb other racers' driving.

Once he was done typing, he removed his hands from the keyboard and, leaning against the chair, he started thinking of what they would do that evening in Kanagawa. Ryosuke knew that Rin's family came from that prefecture and he also knew that there were several passes in that area and, he guessed, that night they would probably head to Rin's home course and that made Ryosuke wish it was nine o'clock already.

Thankfully he didn't have to wait for too long and, a few hours later, he was back at the Gunma Medical School campus and since the evening was very warm and muggy, he waited outside the FC for Rin to show up. He did a few minutes later and, without getting out of his Toyota, the senpai instructed him to:

'Get in the car and follow me.'

Ryosuke complied and soon the two were driving along the Kan'Etsu expressway going to Yokohama. They got out before they reached the capital city of the Kanagawa prefecture and, about an hour after they'd left Takasaki, they arrived at the city of Hadano. There, they drove along a provincial road all the way to the start of the national route number seventy, better known to the locals as the Yabitsu Pass.

Following Rin's GA61 into the barely lit pass, Ryosuke noticed that it was narrower than any road he'd been before, just wide enough for two cars to pass each other. He also noticed that while the tarmac was fairly new, it was also very bumpy and that, together with the quick succession of corners made him think that driving there going as fast as he could would give him a massive adrenaline rush, alas, he suspected Rin wasn't going to let him do any such thing, at least not that evening.

A few minutes later, they reached the top of the pass and there, using a small widening of the road, he saw Keita's red FB, Junichi's black EG6. There wasn't anyone else which made Ryosuke aware that whatever was going to happen there, it wasn't an official gathering.

'Hey!' Keita exclaimed as Rin and Ryosuke got out of their cars, 'you're late!'

'Sorry,' Rin said, 'we found traffic on the expressway.'

'No worries,' Keita said, Ryosuke noticed the guy was in an exceedingly good mood.

'Did you hear from Prodrive?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Oh yes,' Keita replied, 'I'm happy you've asked…'

'He got accepted,' Junichi said for him.

'Oi!' Keita protested, 'it was my bit of news!'

'Sorry,' Junichi said offering a sheepish smile.

'No worries,' Keita repeated, 'now, since we're all here, there's something else I need to tell you.'

'What is it?' Rin asked.

'Well,' Keita said, 'I've been doing a lot of thinking in the past two days and, since the training programme starts in September, I was thinking of travelling to England a bit before that, so that I can get used to living in a different country.'

'What are you saying?' Junichi asked.

'I'm saying that I'm leaving next week,' Keita said speaking as quickly as he could.

'No way,' Junichi protested, 'that's too soon!'

'It makes sense,' Rin said, 'after all, you will need to brush up a bit on your English.'

'I will,' Keita confirmed then, speaking to Junichi, he said, 'come on, it's not like we won't stay in touch.'

'Yeah, right,' the guy said sounding sceptic.

'I will write to you guys,' Keita said, 'I promise.'

'What about Meiko-chan?' Rin asked him.

'I've broken up with her,' Keita replied simply.

'Are you okay with that?' Ryosuke asked.

'Yeah,' Keita replied, 'I didn't think it was fair for me to ask her to wait, especially since I don't even know if I'll come back to Japan, she didn't look that upset so I guess our relationship wasn't such a big deal for her either.'

'If you say so,' Rin said, clearly humouring him.

'Anyway,' Keita said, 'that's not all I wanted to say: since I'm leaving soon, I want to race you again.'

'Keita…'

'Rin,' he stopped him, 'you owe me a re-match and you know it.'

'Is that the reason why you insisted in meeting up here?' Rin asked him.

'Yes,' Keita replied.

Rin stared at him for a while then, giving up, he nodded and said:

'Alright, I guess I haven't got a choice.'

'No, you don't,' Keita said, 'and just so you know, I've been practicing very hard so don't take it too easy.'

'I'm not planning to,' Rin assured him, 'I know better than to underestimate a future professional driver.'

'That's right,' Keita confirmed, his smile returning to his handsome features.

'Nishihara-san,' Ryosuke spoke, 'if you're leaving soon, we…'

'Don't worry,' Keita interrupted, 'I will come back to Japan one day and then, you'll have your rematch.'

'I'm glad to hear that,' Ryosuke said sounding very serious.

'Alright,' Rin said, 'let's get this started.'

A few minutes before half past ten, Ryosuke and Junichi watched the red FB and the silver GA61 lining up for the race. Since the road was too narrow for a side-by-side start, the Mazda was ahead of the Toyota with Junichi standing by ready to start the countdown. Getting the okay sign from both drivers, he lifted his arm up and, as loudly as he could, he shouted:

'FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE, GO!'

Right then, the two cars took off.

Ryosuke had to repress a gasp when he saw Rin driving wide into the corner and, before Keita could do anything to prevent it, Rin overtook him with absurd ease disappearing around the left-hander followed by the FB.

'That's it,' Junichi said, 'he's going to win again.'

'This is his home course, isn't it?' Ryosuke asked.

'One of them,' Junichi explained, 'Rin is unbeatable in most of the passes here in Kanagawa.'

'Is that so?' Ryosuke asked.

'Yes,' Junichi confirmed, 'which is why he rarely races here anymore.'

'Is that the reason why you guys are going to Gunma so often?' Ryosuke asked.

'Yes and no,' Junichi replied, 'we started going there because it was a fairly new territory for us and because Keita's good friends with that guy you met in Mt Usui but now Rin insists on going there because he wants to keep an eye on you.'

'Wha…'

'Don't worry,' Junichi said, 'I think it's a good thing he's doing that, it means he sees your potential.'

Ryosuke didn't say anything to that, instead, he started thinking of the ongoing race, wishing he'd been fast enough to get in his car so that he could follow them for he was sure that Keita would be putting up quite a good fight and because he really wanted to see Rin in action. He also started harbouring the thought that one of these days he would challenge Rin to a race in this pass but not yet: he still had to work a lot before he could even begin to think of beating his senpai.

_To be continued…_


	10. Chapter Nine

A/N: I'm happy you guys liked the Kyoichi vs Ryosuke race and, hopefully, you'll like what happens in this chapter too! ^_^

**Planetarium**

_Chapter Nine_

The sounds of two cars driving up the pass interrupted the discussion Ryosuke and Junichi were having regarding the FIA ban on rotary engines at the Le Mans twenty four hour race and, staring at the last corner's exit, they waited until they saw Keita's red FB leading Rin's silver GA61. Junichi exchanged a confused glance with Ryosuke who just shrugged before he walked to the spot where the two cars stopped.

'What happened?' Junichi asked.

'It was close,' Rin replied climbing out of his car.

'But you still won,' Keita countered sounding a little upset, 'I already knew that you would.'

'That's rubbish,' Rin said, 'and I've already told you…'

'I know, I know,' Keita said.

'We'll race again when you come back,' Rin promised.

'Well,' Keita said forcing himself to cheer up a bit, 'if after a couple of years of professional training I still can't beat you, then I think I'll sell my car and get myself a pushbike.'

'If you still can't beat me,' Rin smirked, 'I'll get you the pushbike myself.'

'Guys…' Junichi started then, he stopped speaking as if he were unable to continue.

'What is it?' Rin asked him.

'It's just that…'

'Jun-kun,' Keita teased him, 'you aren't going to get all emotional on us, are you?'

'Idiot,' Junichi complained.

'Well,' Rin said, 'he does have a point: now that you'll be gone and with me getting busier with the hospital training, I very much doubt we'll meet up here anytime soon. In fact, this could very well be the last time…'

'Don't say that!' Junichi whimpered.

'It won't be the last time,' Keita said, 'I'll come back to visit you guys and this is the first place we'll come to, okay?'

'Do you promise me that?' Junichi asked pouting a little.

'I do,' Keita replied looking unusually serious, 'you're such an adorable idiot, you know that?'

'You…'

'Nishihara-san,' Ryosuke intervened, 'will you have time for a rematch with me before you leave?'

'I doubt it,' Keita replied honestly.

'I see,' Ryosuke said trying not to look downcast.

'Takahashi,' Keita said, 'if when I return from England you're still actively racing, I promise you that we'll race again.'

'I'll be looking forward to that,' Ryosuke replied.

'Alright guys,' Rin said, 'what do you say if we go downhill altogether?'

'For old times' sake, right?' Junichi asked.

'Let's do it,' Keita agreed, 'are you coming with us?' he then asked Ryosuke.

'Of course,' he replied.

The four drivers climbed into their cars and while Keita drove ahead of the group followed by Junichi in his black EG6, Ryosuke had the fortune of driving right behind Rin's GA61 which allowed him to see first-hand the sheer mastery with which his senpai tackled the many, many corners that conformed the Yabitsu Pass.

When that evening he returned home, he forgot all about the report in immunology he was supposed to work on and, instead, he tried to put into words everything he'd seen Rin do with his Toyota, starting with the super-delayed braking technique the man had consistently used when going around the fastest corners. It was a work of art and Ryosuke had every intention of trying to master it as soon as he could.

Alas, he found that the start of the summer holidays didn't bring any of the extra time he had hoped for, instead, Ryosuke seemed to be busier than ever: not only he had an absurd amount of research to do for his medical school papers but also, his father had suddenly insisted that he was to start becoming familiar with the hospital's bookkeeping system not to mention that had to keep an eye on Keisuke's own summer homework to make sure the kid didn't leave all of it to the last possible minute.

This meant that the time for his practices up Mt Akagi were limited to a few sporadic evenings and he could count himself lucky he was still able to continue his part-time job at Mikami's auto workshop. Knowing that his deal with the old man would end the instant summer was over made Ryosuke feel rather sad and, one evening at the end of August, while he helped Shuichi fixing the clutch of an old Toyota Cressida, he started to consider asking for an indefinite extension to his verbal contract.

'Matsumoto,' he said wiping his forehead, 'can I ask you something?'

'Of course,' Shuichi said.

'Do you think the boss is happy with the work I do here?' he asked sounding as casual as possible.

'Of course he is,' Shuichi replied, 'you've become an excellent mechanic in the three months you've worked for us. In fact, just the other day Mikami-san said it's a pity you're not planning on making a living out of it.'

'He said that?' Ryosuke asked.

'Yes,' Shuichi replied, 'why are you asking this?'

'Well,' Ryosuke said deciding to be honest, 'I was thinking of asking him to let me stay on for a while longer.'

'Really?' Shuichi asked frowning a little.

'You don't think that's a good idea,' Ryosuke said, trying not to sound hurt.

'Not really,' Shuichi replied, 'don't get me wrong, I understand the reasons why you wanted to get better at understanding how a car works but, right now, I think you've learned more than enough, in fact, you probably know more about mechanics than most professional racers out there. Speaking of which, Fumihiro and I were wondering if…'

'No,' Ryosuke stopped him, 'I haven't changed my mind about that.'

'Come on,' Shuichi said, 'I know you're planning on becoming a doctor but…'

'That's right,' Ryosuke interrupted him, 'I am going to be a doctor and dreaming of being anything else it's pointless. Besides, my father's being awfully good letting me work in here and financing my racing events, if I told him I'd like to aim to become a professional racer, he would definitely have a nervous breakdown.'

'So you really are not interested then,' Shuichi said.

'No, I'm not,' Ryosuke confirmed.

'But…'

'Matsumoto,' Ryosuke said, 'I've told you before, all I want…'

'…it's to become faster,' Shuichi finished for him, 'I know, you've told me a thousand times.'

'Well,' Ryosuke said, 'since you keep bringing it up, it doesn't seem like it's registering in that brain of yours.'

'Great, now you're calling me thick,' Shuichi protested almost as if he were talking to himself.

'I didn't say that,' Ryosuke said, 'let's finish this, okay? I still need to work on the FC to prepare it for tomorrow's gymkhana.'

'Yes, boss,' Shuichi replied with a mock military salute.

Ignoring that, Ryosuke continued his work and, after checking that the clutch's functionality had been fully re-established, he started working on his own car while Shuichi busied himself tidying up his toolbox while he pretended not to peek at what Ryosuke was doing. As usual, Ryosuke started counting up to ten and then:

'Are you sure you don't need a hand?' Shuichi asked him.

'Not today, thank you,' Ryosuke replied patiently.

He smiled softly for this same exact routine repeated itself every time he started working on the FC.

'Alright,' Shuichi predictably said, 'I'll start doing the inventory then.'

Ryosuke just nodded refusing to fall into the trap. He knew that Shuichi wanted to make him say that if he was so bored then he was welcome to help him and he also knew that if he did that, the mechanic would just take over the work and would not let him do anything else. For this reason, he just continued working in silence to Shuichi's immense disappointment.

On Saturday morning and just as they had agreed the previous evening, the two men met up at the parking area by the Gunma Cycle Sports Centre where they also found Junichi and Hiroshi already waiting for them. Ryosuke had to repress a chuckle when he saw Junichi's overly happy expression when he exclaimed:

'It's been so long!'

'It has,' Ryosuke agreed then, glancing around himself, he asked, 'I take Hojo-san isn't going to join us.'

'Nope,' Junichi confirmed, 'he's busy with the…what's it called again? Introduction, no,ind…er…'

'Induction course?' Ryosuke suggested.

'Yes, that's the word,' Junichi said.

'It's just the four of us then,' Hiroshi said.

'Yes,' Ryosuke confirmed, 'I'm grateful you could make some time to come today,' he added.

'I wouldn't miss it for the world,' Hiroshi told him, 'I'm becoming a fan of yours, you know?'

'Fumihiro-san…'

'Hey,' Hiroshi interrupted him, 'I'm serious and I'm not the only one, there are a few big shots that…'

'Let it be,' Shuichi stopped him, 'I tried having this conversation with him last night and I failed, again.'

'I'm going to go and register the car,' Ryosuke said sounding a little annoyed.

Watching him walking away, Junichi shook his head and, talking to the other two men, he said:

'You two should just give up, Takahashi's future has already been decided for him.'

'We know that,' Hiroshi said, 'but it's just that he's got so much talent, he could do anything he wanted.'

'That's the problem though,' Junichi said, 'he can't do whatever he wants, can he?'

Neither Shuichi nor Hiroshi replied to that but their silence was a good enough answer.

Meanwhile, Ryosuke was waiting his turn to complete his registration for the day's event when he felt a rather painful punch on his shoulder, he turned round half-expecting to see either Junichi or Shuichi but, instead, he found himself facing a very angry looking Kyoichi. Ryosuke started wondering if the guy had ever cracked a smile in his life when he heard him asking:

'What are you playing at?'

'Excuse me?' Ryosuke asked forcing himself to sound civil.

'I checked with the organisation this morning,' Kyoichi replied, 'and they haven't heard from you yet.'

Ryosuke frowned a bit and said:

'I'm not sure I'm following you.'

'The hell you're not,' Kyoichi spat, 'why haven't you registered for the next race atNikko?'

'Ah, that,' Ryosuke said finally understanding.

'Yes, that,' Kyoichi repeated sarcastically, 'you owe me a rematch and…'

'I don't think I owe you anything,' Ryosuke stopped him, 'and as far as I know, it's not compulsory that I enter every race organised at that circuit. Now, if you excuse me, I must complete the registration for…'

'I see,' Kyoichi stopped him, 'you're running away, aren't you?'

'I…'

'Because you know that the next time we race I'll beat the crap out of you,' Kyoichi provoked him.

'You're free to think whatever you like,' Ryosuke said calmly.

Kyoichi looked like he'd just been slapped and then his face started turning a dangerous shade of red.

'There you are!' Shuichi exclaimed walking towards them followed by Junichi and Hiroshi, 'we thought you…' he stopped talking when a positively fuming Kyoichi turned round, bumping into him as he stormed out of the registration room. Only then and rubbing his sore shoulder, the mechanic asked, 'what the hell was that about?'

Ryosuke took a moment to explain and then, Hiroshi said:

'He's right.'

'Who is?' Ryosuke asked him being purposely obtuse.

'Sudo,' Hiroshi humoured him, 'you should race him again to give him the chance to beat you.'

'I know that,' Ryosuke said, 'it's just that I'm not sure if I'll have the time to prepare for the race properly.'

'What do you mean?' Shuichi asked.

'I need to start paying more attention to my school work,' Ryosuke explained, 'it was okay during the first few months of the course but I know that next semester we'll get even more papers and I'll have even less time than I do now. I just need to be sure that I can juggle everything without compromising any of the things I must get done before I can commit myself to doing something else.'

'We could help you with that,' Hiroshi said.

'Fumihiro-san…'

'I'm serious,' Hiroshi insisted, 'I could help you with procuring the parts you need and I could even handle the registration to the events you want to enter and I'm sure Matsumoto can help you with the car's set-up.'

'Of course,' Shuichi confirmed nodding once.

'I'm grateful for this,' Ryosuke said, 'I really am. But I do want to do everything myself and…'

'You don't have to,' Junichi intervened, 'what they're saying makes a lot of sense and if I were you, I'd accept their help, I mean, as long as they agree to let you have the final word on where and who you race, it should be fine, shouldn't it?'

'I guess so,' Ryosuke said not sounding too convinced.

'Okay,' Hiroshi suggested, 'let's have a one-month trial, after which, you'll decide whether to carry on or not.'

'And if I don't?' Ryosuke asked.

'Then we'll accept your decision,' Hiroshi promised, 'what do you think?'

'I think you're an excellent salesman,' Ryosuke replied.

'I'll take that as a compliment,' Hiroshi said.

'Just let me ask you something,' Ryosuke said.

'What is it?' Hiroshi asked.

'Why are you doing this?' Ryosuke asked.

'I told you,' Hiroshi replied, 'I am becoming a fan of yours and I want you to keep on racing for as long as you can.'

Ryosuke stared at him for a short while then, he nodded once and said:

'Alright, we've got a deal.'

'Does that mean I get to work on the FC anytime I want?' Shuichi asked sounding hopeful.

'No,' Ryosuke replied firmly, 'I still want to be the one working on my car,' he added then, seeing the downcast expression on the mechanic's face, he said, 'but you'll be the first person I'll go to in case I need some extra help.'

'Really?' Shuichi asked.

'Yes,' Ryosuke said trying to look serious.

A few minutes later, Hiroshi completed the registration to the gymkhana in his first official act as Ryosuke's newly appointed right-hand man demonstrating his ability dealing with this sort of things when he somehow managed to skip the long queue of drivers. Then Shuichi insisted on being the one preparing the car for the actual event, using a marker to write the number onto both of the FC's rear windows as well as attaching two straps of black tape to protect the plastic covers of the FC's lights.

'We'll make a good team, won't we?' he then asked Hiroshi while Ryosuke attended the drivers' meeting.

'Something tells me that we will,' the man replied.

The gymkhana started as scheduled at eleven o'clock with all twenty registered cars lining up at one end of the large asphalted area on which the course had been set up using several traffic cones that had been placed there by the organisation while the drivers were kept busy by the compulsory health and safety briefing so that they could preserve the surprise factor which was an integral part of the competition.

Ryosuke knew that during his first go around the course it was crucial he memorised the disposition of all the cones as well as figuring out the fastest and most efficient way to clear each of the exercises proposed by the organisation. While he waited for his turn, he hoped that all the hours he'd spent perfecting his power slides and drifts would help him pull off a good enough performance in the shortest possible time.

Three cars later Ryosuke positioned his FC at the starting line and, an instant after that, he took off launching his car along the first line of cones, making sure he kept a regular distance from them, he then executed the first loop around one of them followed by a short slalom which led to a one hundred and eighty degree turn that got his car facing the second stage of the course delimited by a series of cones placed on each side. Ryosuke had to drive in zig-zag around them sliding the car from one line of cones to the other.

He then crossed to the final part of the course where he found two cones that he circled around in an eight-shape then, there was another one hundred and eighty degree turn and the a much longer slalom that led straight into the finish line where a man from the organisation waited for him with a stopwatch in his hand.

'Alright, queue up,' the man told him after informing him of his clocked time: four minutes and twenty seven seconds.

Just as it happened with autocross, they drivers had several attempts to get the fastest possible time but that was possibly the only similarity between the two disciplines because, while in autocross speed was paramount, in the gymkhana, style and handling were just as important as clearing the course in a short amount of time and, in a way, Ryosuke found that both sports complimented each other.

Stopping his car right behind a light blue S13, he noticed that Kyoichi's E39A was currently launched in its first lap around the course. Ryosuke got out of the FC so that he could get a better look and, to his stupor, he saw that Kyoichi was clearing the obstacles a lot faster than he did, managing to complete the gymkhana in a lot less than Ryosuke's own time. Frowning in worry, Ryosuke got back in his car.

He had to be much faster.

When his second turn started, Ryosuke forgot all about being careful and started pushing his car to its limits, reminding himself he had a fresh set of tyres waiting for him at Mikami-san's shop. Because of this, he made the FC slide around the cones going so fast that he started feeling the g-forces pressing him onto the bucket seat, he could smell the acrid stench from the burnt rubber making him feel a little sick.

All in all, he was happy to get to the end of the course and felt even happier when he saw that his clocked time was now four minutes and six seconds and with bated breath, he waited for Kyoichi's turn. When it came, he used his own wristwatch to keep track of the time the guy did and, with one eye on the white Mitsubishi and another on his watch, he watched Kyoichi crossing the line and, only then, Ryosuke allowed himself a smile: the E39A's time was five seconds slower.

Getting serious once again, Ryosuke climbed back in his car getting ready for his third and final attempt. He already remembered where all the cones were and, this time, he decided to go even faster than before. As he cleared the final slalom, he knew he'd done his best lap yet and got confirmation of the fact when the official told him his time was just under four minutes. Getting out of the car, he waited for Kyoichi to start his last lap.

The wait was rather unnerving and Ryosuke felt rather annoyed when one of the cars decided to go out of control crashing badly against one of the kerbs. Of course they had to wait until the organisation got the damaged car out of the course and only then, at long last, he saw the white Mitsubishi getting ready to have its third attempt.

Once again using his own watch, he timed Kyoichi as he took his car around the course but, half way through it, he stopped looking at his watch and started smiling instead because, at the end of his lap, he heard that Kyoichi's time was four minutes and seven seconds. Somehow, Ryosuke had managed to beat him and he was so happy about it that he didn't even mind the fact that his hadn't been the fastest time of the day: that honour fell onto some older guy driving a green AE86.

'Well done mate,' Junichi said clapping him on the back.

'Second overall is not bad at all,' Hiroshi added.

'I still have to get better,' Ryosuke said.

'You will,' Shuichi assured him, 'this was only your third attempt at a gymkhana, give yourself time.'

Ryosuke just nodded at that.

That same evening and after he'd travelled to Isesaki to replace the FC's worn tyres with a fresh set, Ryosuke was getting ready to start working with his computer when he heard the phone in his room ringing.

'Hello?' he answered.

'Oh good, you're home,' Junichi said.

'Obviously,' Ryosuke pointed out trying not to laugh.

'Please tell me you're not busy or anything,' Junichi practically begged him.

'Why?' Ryosuke wanted to know.

'Because Rin said he is and with Keita gone I'm all alone and…please…I'm really bored, okay?' Junichi said.

'Alright,' Ryosuke humoured him, 'what is it that you want us to do?'

'I'm glad you asked,' Junichi replied sounding very pleased, 'do you know where Mt Myogi is?'

'Of course,' Ryosuke said.

'Great,' Junichi replied, 'because apparently there's something pretty big happening there tonight.'

Ryosuke didn't say anything and that made Junichi say:

'Can you be there in about an hour?'

Checking his watch, he saw that it was nearly eight o'clock.

'I think so,' he replied.

'Cool,' Junichi said, 'let's meet up down at the base, it'd be too difficult to find each other at the parking area.'

'Okay,' Ryosuke accepted.

Shortly before nine he arrived at the bottom of the pass which ran up Mt Myogi. The mountain looked as beautifully breathtaking as always and even at night, one could see the rugged peaks which made this mount so famous. Ryosuke was happy to see the black EG6 stopped by the side of the road with the hazard lights on, he positioned the FC right beside the Honda and, getting the passenger's window down, he asked:

'Shall we go up?'

'Sure,' Junichi said, 'have you driven in here before?'

'Yes, I have,' Ryosuke replied.

'Alright,' Junichi said, 'in that case, I won't need to be careful.'

Ryosuke didn't need to ask what that meant. He hadn't even pressed the button to get the window back up when he saw the EG6 taking off so fast that it almost startled him. Recovering quickly, Ryosuke shifted up from neutral and started chasing after Junichi, overtaking him just a couple of corners later. The two cars kept driving up at such insane pace that they made it all the way to the summit in a record time.

Only when Ryosuke got out of the car he noticed that this little stunt had attracted quite a bit of attention and a few people were now staring at the white FC as if they had seen some sort of ghost. Trying not to mind them, Ryosuke waited until Junichi got out of his EG6.

'With all due respect,' the older man said, 'you're a crazy bastard.'

'Thanks, I think,' Ryosuke replied.

'Seriously,' Junichi said, 'if I had known you wanted a race I would have challenged you to one.'

'I wasn't racing,' Ryosuke said, 'I was just trying to keep the pace you set up at the start of the course.'

Junichi stared at him with an incredulous expression on his face then, shaking his head, he told him:

'Alright, let's forget about this for now.'

'Fine by me,' Ryosuke said then, lowering his tone, he asked, 'why are there so many people up here?'

'Because of them,' Junichi replied indicating a couple of fairly new cars: one was a pitch black S13 and the other was a dark red EG6, 'you know, they've just founded a new team here in Mt Myogi, I think they've called themselves the Night Kids.'

'Night Kids?' Ryosuke asked.

'Yes,' Junichi confirmed, 'and those two have challenged each other to decide who'll be the team's leader.'

'Ah,' Ryosuke said, 'do you know their names?'

'Only the one driving the S13, he's called Nakazato something,' Junichi replied.

'Are they any good?' Ryosuke asked.

'Nakazato's not bad,' Junichi replied, 'he used to fly solo around here and he's won quite a few races.'

'That's interesting,' Ryosuke said.

'Are you planning on challenging him?' Junichi asked.

'No,' Ryosuke replied, 'Nishihara-san showed me that I'm still nowhere near ready for this kind of races.'

Junichi stared at him before he burst out laughing.

'What's so funny?' Ryosuke asked him.

'You,' Junichi replied trying to sober up a bit, 'seriously, I don't think you realise how good you're becoming.'

'Hojo-san disagrees with that,' Ryosuke countered.

'You shouldn't always listen to him,' Junichi advised, 'he's always been as strict with others as he is with himself.'

'That's not such a bad thing,' Ryosuke pointed out.

'It is if it prevents you from seeing things objectively,' Junichi said, 'and sometimes Rin just fails to see the bigger picture because he's too focused on the little details,' Ryosuke didn't say anything to that and Junichi added, 'at any rate, I think you should consider it.'

'I know,' Ryosuke agreed, 'I just want to feel a bit more confident, that's all.'

'Okay,' Junichi said clearly not wanting to argue his point any further.

They then walked away from their cars ready to watch the start of the race when, all of a sudden, there was quite a big commotion and several people started looking a little panicked while the guy called Nakazato and his opponent started issuing orders to the other members of their team.

'What's going on?' Ryosuke asked Junichi.

'No idea,' the older man replied, 'wait here and I'll try to find out.'

Ryosuke did what he was told and watched as Junichi walked to one of the Night Kids and after speaking to him for just a moment, he rushed back to where Ryosuke said looking as nervous as everyone else.

'We need to go,' Junichi said hurrying to his car.

'Why?' Ryosuke asked him while he followed, 'is it the police? Are they coming here?'

'No,' Junichi said, 'it's worse than that.'

'Worse?' Ryosuke asked.

'Yes,' Junichi said unlocking his EG6, 'they've just seen a group of gangsters driving up and…'

The high-pitched sound of several engines interrupted him and, an instant later, Ryosuke saw no fewer than twenty motorbikes driving up the pass and into the parking area. Even in the dim evening light, he recognised the one leading the group and, ignoring Junichi's pleas to get in their cars, Ryosuke made his way towards the black and red CBR 400, while everyone else was busy trying to flee the scene. Once he got close enough to the motorbike, its rider figured out who he was and, removing his integral helmet a stunned looking Keisuke asked:

'Aniki, what are you doing in here?'

_To be continued…_


	11. Chapter Ten

A/N: Very eventful chapter coming up! As usual, I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts so, don't be shy (or lazy!) and let me know. ^_^

At any rate, thanks for reading!

**Planetarium**

_Chapter Ten_

'Aniki?' Keisuke insisted.

'I could ask you the same thing,' Ryosuke said.

'I asked you first,' Keisuke pointed out, using an unusually hard tone of voice.

Ryosuke observed his younger brother and realised that the person he had in front of him wasn't the usual carefree boy who had just turned seventeen and who still needed his help to do his homework, instead, he looked every bit like the hardened gangster he was.

'My friend Kuroki and I came here for a drive,' he finally explained.

'A drive?' Keisuke asked clearly not buying it.

'Yes,' Ryosuke insisted.

'Are you trying to tell me you don't know any of those people?' Keisuke asked him indicating the members of the Night Kids.

'Not really,' Ryosuke replied, 'however,' he added, 'I would prefer if there wasn't any trouble tonight.'

Keisuke glanced at his older brother staring at him through narrowed eyes.

'I understand,' he finally said.

'I knew you would,' Ryosuke replied.

'And I'll be waiting for you to explain to me what this is all about,' Keisuke added.

'I will,' Ryosuke promised.

'Alright,' Keisuke said then, talking to his large group of friends, he shouted, 'people: let's move out.'

'Keisuke-san…' a burly looking fellow tried to protest.

'Don't make me say it again,' Keisuke almost barked, 'we got the wrong place, the party isn't here.'

'Yes, sir,' the big guy replied.

Looking at his older brother one more time, Keisuke shook his head and, just as he was putting his helmet back on, Ryosuke thought he saw a small but proud smile appearing on the boy's handsome features and, for a fleeting moment, it made Ryosuke feel some unidentified but warm emotion in his heart which almost made him miss the rather spectacular fashion in which the twenty or so motorbikes left the parking space.

'We should go too,' Junichi told him finally finding his voice.

Ryosuke stared at him looking surprised to see him here, as if he'd actually forgotten all about the poor guy and, for the first time, he also noticed that everyone there was observing them with an indecent amount of curiosity. Even the guy called Nakazato seemed to be trying to make his mind up about whether to go and talk to them or not.

'Let's go,' Ryosuke decided.

Before Nakazato could move from where he was, both Junichi and Ryosuke got back onboard their cars and, a few moments later, everyone there watched them driving back downhill, travelling as fast as they could. They only stopped half an hour later when they reached the point of the road where Junichi would need to get into the expressway to head back to Kanagawa. There, Ryosuke saw the EG6 pulling to the side and, following suit, he turned the FC's engine off and, after making sure it was safe enough, he climbed out of it.

'Okay,' Junichi said, 'I can officially say that I'm no longer bored.'

'I'm glad to hear that,' Ryosuke replied with a hint of sarcasm.

'Seriously though,' Junichi continued, 'that gangster…'

'Don't call him that,' Ryosuke asked him, 'he's my younger brother.'

'Oh,' Junichi gasped then, he chuckled and said, 'and I thought Tsuyoshi was bad…'

'Who's Tsuyoshi?' Ryosuke asked.

'Rin's younger brother,' Junichi explained, 'he's quite a handful too and he's given Rin more than one headache.'

'I can imagine,' Ryosuke replied knowing very well what he was talking about.

'Anyway,' Junichi said, 'the fact that you're related probably saved our asses so, I'm grateful for that.'

'I didn't do anything,' Ryosuke insisted.

'It doesn't matter,' Junichi said, 'I'm just happy I get to go home with both my face and my car intact.'

Ryosuke didn't say anything to that, instead, he watched the guy get back in the EG6 after giving him a little wave. He too climbed into the FC and, turning its engine back on, Ryosuke tried to remember if Rin had ever mentioned having a younger brother. He couldn't but he found it interesting and a little unsettling to see that, yet again, there seemed to be something else they had in common.

He soon stopped thinking about that and, instead, he tried to come up with a plausible way to explain to Keisuke the reason why he and Junichi appeared to be involved in an illegal street race. He arrived home without having managed to find a good reason and he was only too happy to see that Keisuke's motorbike wasn't parked inside the garage. Leaving his FC there, he went up to his bedroom to think of a strategy and when a few hours later he heard the knock on his door, Ryosuke was fully prepared.

'Come in,' he said.

Keisuke entered the room and, sitting down on his older brother's bed, he looked up and said:

'Alright, I'm all ears.'

'Before that,' Ryosuke said calmly, 'can you explain to me what you and your friends were planning to do?

'Not much,' Keisuke replied shrugging his shoulders making Ryosuke notice that they looked broader, 'we just heard that there was some new people gathering up at Mt Myogi and we thought of joining the fun.'

Ryosuke stared at him in disbelief then, remembering what he'd decided, he asked him:

'Do you know what they were about to do?'

'Yeah,' Keisuke replied.

'And what do you think of that?' Ryosuke asked.

'What? Street racing?' Keisuke asked, 'it's alright, I guess.'

'And if I were to tell you that I'm trying to get into that world, what would you say?' Ryosuke said.

'Are you?' Keisuke asked.

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied firmly then, he challenged him, 'does that disappoint you?'

'Disappoint me?' Keisuke asked frowning a little.

'Yes,' Ryosuke said, 'do you feel let down by me because I'm involved in such a thing?'

'What?' Keisuke gasped then, his lips curved into a grin and said, 'no way! I think it's super cool!'

'Really?' Ryosuke asked feeling slightly taken aback.

'Of course I do,' Keisuke said, 'it's about freaking time you did something…er…what's the word…'

'Unconventional?' Ryosuke supplied.

'Yeah,' Keisuke said, 'you work so freaking hard all the time. I'm surprised it's taken you so long for you to find some sort of escape valve or something to help you release all that tension you keep bottling up. Not that you need it but, you have my full support with this.'

'Thank you,' Ryosuke said, 'I do appreciate that,' then, as an afterthought he added, 'would you want to join me?'

'Join you?' Keisuke asked now looking a little surprised.

'Yes,' Ryosuke said, 'we could both go to the gatherings together and next year you could get yourself a car and…'

'Aniki, please, spare me,' Keisuke interrupted him looking horrified, 'you know I hate cars, they're for…'

'Losers?' Ryosuke said a playful smile threatening to show up.

'Well,' Keisuke started then, he bit his lower lip and tried to fix his mistake: 'I guess some people might like them.'

'But not you,' Ryosuke said.

'Nah,' Keisuke confirmed, 'give me a motorbike any day of the week: they're much more agile, easier to park and they make a much better getaway vehicle which is awfully useful if you're being chased by the cops…'

'Alright, I get the picture,' Ryosuke interrupted him.

'Sorry,' Keisuke said with a sheepish smile, 'too much information, right?'

'Definitely,' Ryosuke replied.

'Alright,' Keisuke said, 'it's been a long day and I'm sleepy so, I'm off to bed.'

'Keisuke…'

'Don't worry,' the boy said getting up from the bed, 'I won't tell the parental units about the whole street racing thing. It's not like they would even listen to me anyway,' he added trying to crack a joke, failing badly.

'Keisuke…'

'Don't worry,' he interrupted offering him a reassuring smile, 'I prefer it now that they pretend I don't exist.'

'You know I'm always here for you, don't you?' Ryosuke said.

'I know,' Keisuke replied nodding once, 'good night, Aniki.'

'Good night,' Ryosuke replied.

Two weeks after that, on the second Friday of September, he joined Rin and Kaori at their usual ramen restaurant for lunch in what was becoming a less and less frequent occurrence. They had just placed their orders when Rin asked:

'Ryosuke, have you heard the latest rumour?'

'What rumour, Hojo-senpai?' Ryosuke asked back.

'I heard this from Junichi,' Rin explained, 'apparently there are quite a few people who won't shut up about some truly awesome racer who drives a white FC and who has connections with the yakuza.'

Ryosuke was so shocked hearing this that he put his glass of water back down onto the counter.

'And that's not all,' Rin said, 'there are a few people who go as far as saying that it's all some sort of myth the people from Gunma have created to scare racers from the other prefectures.'

'They can't be serious,' Ryosuke said.

'I know it's ridiculous but…' Rin stopped speaking when he heard his pager buzzing, pulling it out from his trousers' pocket, he checked it and, getting up from the stool he said, 'excuse me for a moment.'

Both Ryosuke and Kaori watched him walk to the back of the restaurant where they knew there was a public phone and while they waited, their orders arrived. Ryosuke thought they would wait for Rin to come back to start eating when he saw Kaori helping herself to some of her ramen, careful to make as little noise as she could.

'Is everything okay?' Ryosuke asked Rin when he returned.

'Yes,' Rin said taking the ceramic spoon so that he could start scooping the broth with it, 'my father told me he urgently needs me to help him with something so I'll be going to see him right after lunch.'

'But...' Kaori started.

'I know I said that we'd spend some time together,' Rin said, 'but it can't be helped, you understand, right?'

'Of course,' Kaori replied.

'Good girl,' Rin said smiling at her, 'now let's eat up or it'll get cold.'

They had just re-started eating Rin spoke again:

'I almost forgot,' he said, 'Ryosuke, can you please give Kaori a lift back home?'

Ryosuke nearly chocked himself with a piece of pork but, swallowing it as fast as possible, he forced himself to say:

'Sure.'

'Thanks,' Rin replied then, speaking to Kaori, he asked her, 'you don't mind, do you?'

'No, of course I don't,' the girl replied.

'Perfect,' a satisfied Rin said.

The two of them continued their conversation as if nothing had happened but, stealing a glance at Kaori, he noticed that the girl looked far from happy and, as it often happened while she was with her fiancé, she remained in complete silence while Rin and Ryosuke talked about the following day's race at the Nikko track.

'I don't think I'll be able to make it,' Rin told him, 'it depends on whatever my father wants us to do.'

'It's okay,' Ryosuke said, 'I know you're really busy these days.'

'That's putting it mildly,' Rin laughed, 'I just have so much to learn, you'd think that our four years here would prepare you for the residency but, seriously, you two can't even imagine how much more there is to learn.'

'You sound pretty excited though,' Ryosuke pointed out.

'I am,' Rin said, 'I've learned more in a month of induction programme than in all the time I've spent here.'

'Are you allowed to go near the patients?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Not yet,' Rin admitted, 'all I'm doing so far is learning about the hospital's administration and I'm reading up all the medical reports that I'm allowed to see. Some of the cases we've covered are simply fascinating.'

'I can imagine,' Ryosuke commented.

'I can't wait till I finish my fourth year so that I can start doing my first rounds,' Rin said.

'It's only six more months,' Ryosuke told him.

'That's right,' Rin said looking really pleased, 'and since I'm going to be so busy, I'm sure they'll just fly by!'

Ryosuke just nodded to that.

A few hours later and as they had agreed after they'd parted ways to go to their lectures, Ryosuke met up with Kaori at the car park. The girl was already waiting for him by the FC and she only smiled at him while he unlocked the doors. Kaori only started speaking once they were both settled onboard the Mazda, she then asked:

'Why don't we go somewhere else?'

'Kaori-san…'

'Come on, Ryosuke-kun,' she pleaded, 'I don't really want to go home just yet.'

'I promised Hojo-senpai that I would take you home,' Ryosuke said, 'and that's what I'm going to do.'

'Please,' Kaori begged, 'I just need a few minutes by the lake; it makes me feel calmer when I'm there.'

'Kaori-san…'

'Please,' she tried again, 'just ten minutes. I'll even cover the petrol we'll use to get up there.'

'Don't be silly,' Ryosuke said, 'it won't cost more than a few hundred yen.'

'Then I'll buy you a cup of coffee,' Kaori insisted, 'please, come on…I'll be a good girl, I promise.'

Letting out a frustrated sigh and even though he knew he was going to regret it, he nodded and gave in:

'Alright, ten minutes and then I'll take you straight home.'

'Thanks,' Kaori said her beautiful smile returning to her features.

Ryosuke drove his FC out of the car park and all the way up Mt Akagi's pass on their way to the Ono Lake. There, he stopped the car as close to the lake's shore as possible and watched as Kaori stepped out of the car.

'Come on,' she said, 'it's such a beautiful afternoon.'

Stopping the engine, Ryosuke climbed out of his FC just in time to see Kaori carelessly kicking her shoes off, leaving them right next to the Mazda and before he could even begin to protest, she started running towards the sandy beach by the lake and, once there, she started playing using her barefoot feet to splash in the water. The picture made Ryosuke curve his lips in an involuntary smile, one he removed the instant he became aware of it.

'Kaori-san!' he exclaimed, 'get out of the water, you'll get cold!'

'It's lovely,' she shouted back, holding her dress just a little higher, 'come here and see for yourself.'

'No, thank you,' Ryosuke said remaining by his car, 'I'm okay in here.'

'Ah, you're boring!' she laughed at him.

Less than two minutes later, Kaori stopped playing with the water and, instead, she just remained standing there looking at the lake with a vacant expression on her face. That made Ryosuke frown in worry and he was about to move towards her when she turned round and started walking back towards the car still looking a little too serious for Ryosuke's own peace of mind.

'It's so beautiful, isn't it?' she commented while she let her feet dry.

'We should go,' he insisted.

'Not yet,' Kaori said, 'my ten minutes aren't up yet.'

'Kaori-san…'

'I'm just so tired of pretending everything's fine,' Kaori suddenly said.

Ryosuke remained silent.

'You know,' the girl continued, 'I never fooled myself thinking that it would be easy but…'

She stopped talking and, before Ryosuke's brain even had the time to register that Kaori was crying, the girl crushed herself against his chest, grabbing the back of his shirt with her fists all while sobbing so loudly that it made Ryosuke look around to see if there was anyone around who could see them. Thankfully, they were alone but that didn't make him feel much better, instead, he remained there, frozen with sheer fear.

'…it's so hard!' Kaori cried, 'it's just too hard and I can't stand it anymore…'

'Kaori-san,' he finally managed to say, his voice sounding awfully strained, 'I…'

He never finished the sentence because, right then, Kaori's lips somehow found their way to his own and only an eternity later he realised that she was kissing him. An utterly horrified Ryosuke pushed himself away from her and, putting as much distance as he could between the two of them, he wiped his mouth with his hand and said:

'What in the heck are you doing?'

'Ryosuke…'

'Get in the car,' he barked.

'Ryosuke…'

'NOW!'

The girl winced visibly but Ryosuke was beyond caring. He had so many emotions whirling in his head that it was nothing short of a miracle he managed to climb into his car, let alone drive it all the way to Kaori's home. Thankfully, the girl was smart enough not to speak during the entire way and only when they arrived at the big house where her family lived, she tried to apologise for what she'd just done.

'I'm really sorry,' she said, 'I…'

'Kaori-san,' Ryosuke interrupted her refusing to look at her in the eye, 'I don't know what you were playing at back there and I honestly don't care but, I think it'll be better if, from now on, we don't see or talk to each other if Hojo-senpai isn't around.'

'Ryosuke…'

'Now, get out of the car, I want to go home,' Ryosuke ordered her.

Doing his best to ignore the devastated expression which appeared on her face, Ryosuke just drove off the instant she was out of the car, desperate to put as much distance between him and the girl as fast as he could. He only calmed down a bit once he was back in the safety of his own bedroom. There, he lied down on his bed covering his face with his arm while he tried to remove from his memory the last hour and a half.

He must have fallen asleep because when he woke up, he checked his watch and, to his horror, he saw that it was nearly four o'clock in the morning and that he hadn't even gone to Isesaki for his evening shift at the workshop. Checking his pager, he saw that Shuichi had sent him a message asking him to call him as soon as he could.

'Dammit,' he swore.

Ryosuke got up from his bed and, knowing that he needed to get as much sleep as possible, he removed his trousers and his shirt and got under the soft duvet. Setting the alarm to wake him three hours later, he forced his brain to shut down once again, hoping that he would not get any nightmares about a certain beautiful long haired girl.

At exactly seven o'clock in the morning, Ryosuke woke up with a massive headache. He forced himself out of bed and, opening his bedside table's top drawer, he took a couple of the aspirins he kept in there. Putting them in his mouth, he went to his en-suit bathroom and filled a glass with some tap water. Swallowing the pills, he removed the few garments he still had on and, stepping into the plate, he took a very long shower.

Half an hour later, a fully dressed and breakfasted Ryosuke picked up the phone to call Shuichi.

'Hello?' the man said.

'It's me,' Ryosuke replied.

'Oh!' Shuichi exclaimed sounding both happy and relieved, 'Fumihiro and I were so worried about you!'

'Sorry,' Ryosuke said, 'I'm also sorry I didn't show up yesterday, something…something came up.'

'It's okay,' Shuichi reassured him, 'you've already done everything you can for the race, haven't you?'

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied, 'I just wanted to check the settings but that's not something we can't do at the track.'

'Speaking of which,' Shuichi said, 'Fumihiro and I are meeting up there in an hour, you'll join us too, right?'

'Of course,' Ryosuke replied, 'I'm leaving right now.'

'Okay,' Shuichi said, 'I'll see you there.'

Ryosuke hanged up the phone and, grabbing the keys to his FC, he went to the garage happy to see that Keisuke's CBR was parked there. Getting onboard his car, Ryosuke drove it down the lane and, a few moments later, he was driving towards the Tochigi prefecture. Half way through it, he decided to forget about the whole incident involving Kaori and he focused all of his attention on the upcoming race.

By the time he arrived at the Nikko circuit, he felt confident he was more or less back to normal and got confirmation of this fact when, greeting Shuichi and Hiroshi, neither of the two men noticed that something catastrophically bad had just happened to him. He was also happy to see that Shuichi had brought with him his super assorted toolbox and, very soon, his hands and mind were too busy to think of anything else.

'I think we're done,' Shuichi said twenty minutes later.

'Yes,' Ryosuke said, 'where's Fumihiro?'

'He's gone to do his job,' Shuichi replied, 'he's taking it very seriously, you know?'

'I see,' Ryosuke said.

Thanks to Shuichi's and Hiroshi's combined efforts Ryosuke soon reached the concentration level he needed to get through the day and, by the time he had to go to the pre-race meeting, he was calm enough to deal with the person who was quickly creeping up to the top of the very short list of people he truly disliked: Sudo Kyoichi.

'I see you're here,' the man sneered.

'You did ask rather nicely,' Ryosuke replied offering him a slight smirk.

'This time, the victory will be mine,' Kyoichi challenged him.

Ryosuke just nodded and, walking to the furthest possible chair, he sat down doing his best to ignore him; only an hour later, he had the immense satisfaction of crossing the line for the fifth and last of his qualifying laps knowing that he had just completed a masterpiece of a lap. Needless to say, Kyoichi looked furious but, somehow, that made Ryosuke feel ridiculously happy, even though he was very careful not to let it show on his face.

'You're in pole again!' Junichi exclaimed.

'When did you get here?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Just in time to see you trashing the track's record,' Junichi said, 'well done, mate!'

'Thank you,' Ryosuke said feeling slightly embarrassed.

'You're always too modest,' Hiroshi complained while Shuichi nodded his agreement.

Ryosuke was only too eager for the actual race to start and, even if it did behind schedule because the marshals had found some debris across one of the corners, at ten minutes past eleven Ryosuke was back onboard his beloved FC ready to start his second race in Nikko. He was well aware that Kyoichi's white E39A was right behind him in second place and that in third position there was a very fast looking blue Nissan 180SX which was driven by one of Kyoichi's friends.

Removing both cars from his mind, Ryosuke focused his attention on the track ahead of him and, once the marshal signalled the all-okay, he waited for the semaphore's red lights to turn green while he did one last quick check just to make sure everything was fine. A moment later, he glanced back at the semaphore and the instant the green lights came on Ryosuke took off with his car, heading to the first turn of the track.

He would never really know why but, some gut instinct made him check his wing mirrors and, just as he was about to slow down in preparation for the right-hander, he saw the Mitsubishi to his left and the Nissan to his right, both cars looking set on entering the corner at the same time as the Mazda. Ryosuke knew that it was physically impossible for all three cars to get around the corner without his FC getting sandwiched in the middle and, for this reason and sensing that it was the right thing to do, Ryosuke slammed his foot down onto the brake and, just then, he saw the E39A and the 180SX darting past him, heading into the corner going way too fast.

Inertia took care of the rest.

As if in slow motion, Ryosuke saw the moment when Kyoichi's Mitsubishi crashed against the S13, sending both cars out of the track spinning out of control. He was so startled by this that he almost missed the corner himself and only the FC's perfect balance allowed him to correct the trajectory so that he could exit the turn.

'What a pair of idiots,' he commented, his lips curving into a smile.

Thanks to Kyoichi's spectacular fail, Ryosuke claimed the win so easily that he found it a tad boring and was almost sorry to hear that Todou-san had ordered his two drivers to go home and reflect on the stupidity of what they had done. At any rate, Ryosuke was just too happy that he'd won again to bring himself to care and allowed his good mood to last all the way throughout the entire weekend.

Only when he returned to school on Monday he was painfully reminded of what had happened three days before. He then felt a brand new wave of angst hitting him while his brain went through the worst possible scenarios, the absolute worst one included Rin beating the crap out of him in front of the whole student body accusing him of being a home wrecker.

Parking his FC at the usual spot, he got out of the car looking around himself nervously. Seeing that the coast was clear, he started rushing towards the building where the lectures were held and had only started climbing the stairs when he heard a very familiar voice shouting his name. That made him freeze on the spot and, very slowly, he turned round to face his senpai.

'Good morning,' Rin said.

'Hi,' was all Ryosuke managed to say.

'I heard from Junichi,' Rin said, 'it seems like the race was perfect. I can't wait to see the footage.'

'Did he record it?' Ryosuke asked, happy to see he sounded almost normal.

'Yes, he did,' Rin confirmed, 'listen, I wanted to thank you again for that favour you did me last Friday.'

'It's okay,' Ryosuke said trying hard not to think of that day.

'Seriously,' Rin said, 'Kaori said you two got lost because she distracted you.'

Ryosuke knew that this was one of those moments when he had to keep his mouth firmly shut.

'I called her home to see if she was alright,' Rin explained, 'and I was surprised when her mother told me she hadn't arrived yet. Kaori called me later telling me that she had distracted you with her chatter and that she had made you miss the exit at the expressway, I hope that didn't cause you too much hassle.'

'No,' Ryosuke replied.

'That's good,' Rin said, 'I swear, Kaori can drive anyone up the walls sometimes…'

Once again, Ryosuke remained silent.

'Anyway,' Rin continued, 'I wanted to let you know that my father has put me in charge of the organisation of all his seminars, I can't tell you how happy I am about this but, unfortunately, this means we'll probably see each other even less than we do now.'

'I'm sorry to hear that,' Ryosuke said honestly.

'I know,' Rin said, 'but there's something else I wanted to tell you.'

'What is it?' Ryosuke said.

'Well,' Rin said, 'as you know, I'll be finishing school in March and, after that I'll start my residency.'

'Yes, I know that,' Ryosuke confirmed.

'So,' Rin said offering him a smile, 'what would you say if I challenged you to a race then?'

'Are you serious?' Ryosuke asked temporarily forgetting all about Kaori.

'I am, 'Rin said firmly, 'I think that in six months from now and if you keep it up, you'll be ready to race me.'

Ryosuke did his best to take that as a compliment and, nodding once, he said:

'Alright, we've got a deal.'

'Perfect,' Rin said, 'now I've got to go and talk to Kaori's teachers, the poor thing is home with a really bad cold today.'

Ryosuke didn't say anything, instead, he watched his senpai go up the stairs while he thought that two positive things had come out from this whole sorry mess: one, he had finally managed to get Rin to recognise him as a rival; two, with his senpai out of the picture, he would have the perfect excuse to stay away from Kaori for good. Hopefully this would help him make it to the end of the academic year with some of his sanity intact.

_To be continued…_


	12. Chapter Eleven

A/N: This chapter marks the start of a new arc, it should be obvious enough but it's been six months since the end of the previous chapter so it now is March 1993. With that said, thank you for your continued support! ^_^

**Planetarium**

_Chapter Eleven_

Very early on Sunday morning, the first official day of spring, Ryosuke finished getting suited up and went to join the group of men Hiroshi had handpicked to form their racing team. The future doctor still found it hard to believe he'd let the Mazdaspeed salesman persuade him into entering the 1993 Fuji Freshman Series and, if that hadn't been incredible enough, he had also accepted the fact that three more men had joined Shuichi to work as the team's mechanics, including one of Shuichi's colleagues from Mikami-san's workshop.

'Are you ready?' Hiroshi asked him.

'As ready as I'm ever going to be,' Ryosuke said, looking resigned to his fate.

'Come on,' Shuichi said, 'it'll be fun, you'll see.'

'I wouldn't be here if I didn't think so,' Ryosuke countered.

'True,' Shuichi accepted, 'now, you should be a bit more careful than usual with the throttle.'

'Why is that?' Ryosuke asked.

'We've tuned the engine up a little to give you a bit of an extra push,' Shuichi explained, 'it shouldn't make much difference in terms of maximum speed but it'll definitely be faster when you exit the corners.'

'Alright,' Ryosuke said, 'anything else I need to know?'

'Not really,' Shuichi replied.

'It's time to go,' Hiroshi said glancing at his wristwatch, 'be careful, okay?'

'Of course,' Ryosuke replied.

He donned the white helmet and gloves which matched his white racing suit which was now decorated with several logos from the companies that sponsored his team. Hiroshi really was a scary man, Ryosuke thought remembering the unbelievably good deals he'd got from them: not only they had covered the inscription to the Fuji Freshman Series championship but, what was even better, they also paid for most of the parts, tyres and other racing apparel as well as the rent of the truck they used to take the FC to each of the races.

Strapping himself onto the bucket seat, Ryosuke turned the 13B engine on and took a couple of minutes to figure out how much more power the newly tuned engine had, deciding that the FC had to be making something close to three hundred and twenty horsepower. With a tiny smile curving his lips, he inserted the first gear and released the handbrake.

'I'm off,' he said through the car's recently installed radio.

'Roger that,' he heard Hiroshi's reply.

Rolling the car down the pitlane, Ryosuke joined the queue of cars which were going to take part in the short qualifying session of the first round of the championship at the Fuji Speedway in the Shizuoka prefecture. Having studied configuration of the course during the drivers' walkabout, Ryosuke knew that right after the pitlane's exit, he would be faced with a one hundred and thirty degrees right-hander, easily one of the tightest corners of the whole circuit.

For this reason, he decided to postpone testing the throttle until he got to the much wider Coca-Cola and 100R turns and, by the time he reached the Panasonic hairpin, Ryosuke's smile had become a full grin. The car had never felt better and he found that driving it around the Fuji Speedway indeed was a lot of fun.

'How is it?' he heard Shuichi's slightly nervous voice asking him.

'Not bad,' he replied, clearly teasing him.

'Not bad?' Shuichi asked sounding startled, 'what's wrong with it?'

Ryosuke didn't reply to that, instead, he just darted along the kilometre long main straight enjoying the thought that Shuichi probably was drowning in a pool of self-doubt wondering if there was something, anything, he had failed to check. Only when he reached the first corner, he decided to be a good boy and said:

'It's perfect, don't worry about it.'

'Ryosuke-san!' Shuichi protested.

Letting out a soft chuckle, Ryosuke sobered up and started concentrating in earning Shuichi's forgiveness by doing what he did best: squeezing out tenths of a second out of each of the sixteen corners that conformed the track, the result was just too predictable and he wasn't surprised when, at the end of the qualifying session, he saw his name on top of the timing board followed by Kikuchi Yasushi, another of the rookies.

'That was an awesome lap,' Hiroshi said.

'Thanks,' Ryosuke replied removing his gloves and helmet.

'Go to the truck and get some rest,' the self-appointed team manager said, 'the race starts in two hours.'

'Okay,' Ryosuke accepted.

He was going to start going to the paddock when he saw Tsuchiya Keiichi himself walking towards them.

'Hello,' the famous racer said looking straight at Ryosuke.

'Good morning, Tsuchiya-san,' he said bowing politely.

'Oh, you know my name?' Keiichi asked looking a little surprised.

'Of course,' Ryosuke replied, 'you're one of the best drivers of the All Japan Touring Car Championship.'

'I'm not too bad,' Keiichi said downplaying his own talent, 'but you're quite impressive yourself, you know?'

'Thank you, sir,' Ryosuke replied, 'you're very kind.'

'Not kind,' Keiichi countered, 'just objective. Where are you from?'

'Takasaki, sir,' Ryosuke replied.

'That's in Gunma, right?'

'Yes, sir,' Ryosuke replied and, for some reason, that made Keiichi laugh out loud.

'I should have known,' the man said, 'it must be something in the water there…'

'Sir?' a confused Ryosuke asked.

'Let me tell you something,' Keiichi said, 'the last time I saw someone driving with the level of precision you have, it was when I watched an old friend of mine driving down Mt Akina. Sadly, he's retired now but he too comes from Gunma,' Ryosuke just nodded to that and Keiichi added, 'anyway, best of luck for the race.'

'Same to you, sir,' Ryosuke said bowing his head respectfully.

Keiichi nodded once before walking to the white and green Nissan Pulsar GTI-R driven by Kikuchi Yasushi.

One hour and forty-five minutes later, a fully rested Ryosuke was back behind the FC's wheel heading the group of thirty cars around the pre-race recognition lap, making his way to the first slot on the starting grid. Once there, he stopped his car and while he waited for the green light, he took a moment to check that everything was okay with the FC and to readjust one of the seatbelt's straps which was a little too tight.

After that, he was ready to go.

At exactly eleven o'clock in the morning, the first round of the Fuji Freshman Series started. Ryosuke took off as fast as he could in an attempt to keep everyone behind during the frantic scramble that preceded the first corner. He knew that while some of the drivers were, at best, mediocre, there were a few who were pretty quick. Kikuchi Yasushi was one of them and, for this reason, Ryosuke decided to let him overtake him.

'What are you doing?' an alarmed Hiroshi asked.

Ryosuke didn't reply to that, instead, he focused on keeping up with the white and green E-RNN14 making sure that the blue S13 stayed firmly behind him. They soon reached the Coca-Cola corner, a fast left-hand turn which led to the even wider 100R parabolic turn. It was after they cleared that one when Ryosuke said:

'Everything is fine, just trust me.'

He only heard a very loud and long sigh loaded with resignation which made him smile a bit.

Getting serious again, he focused his attention on the car in front of his. Ryosuke was only vaguely familiar with the Nissan Pulsar GTI-R but it was enough for him to know that the E-RNN14 model was the homologation variant required to satisfy the WRC's rules and, while extremely compact, its SR20DET engine produced a whooping two hundred and thirty horsepower as stock. Yasushi's car made at least one hundred more and that, together with the ATTESA all-wheel drive system it equipped made that Pulsar a very serious opponent.

Two laps within the race, Ryosuke started noticing something peculiar in Yasushi's driving style. He waited for another full lap to be sure but by the start of the fourth lap out of twenty-six, he was certain that he'd found a flaw in his technique. Yasushi seemed to have no problems going around the fastest corners but, when they approached one of the tighter ones, like the first one for instance, Ryosuke noticed how the guy seemed to correct the trajectory at least one or twice while he entered the corner.

Ryosuke was aware of the fact that, up until the previous year, Yasushi had only raced with karts and that he had just moved to full-sized cars to enter the Fuji Freshman Series. He guessed that the guy wasn't used to them yet but, judging by how quick he already was, Ryosuke had no doubts that given time, Yasushi would only get faster.

At the start of the seventh lap, Ryosuke decided that he'd collected enough information and, just as the two cars approached the first corner, he attached the front of his FC to the back of the E-RNN14 and then, just as Yasushi did one of his usual corrections to get closer to the apex, Ryosuke moved to the outside of the corner and, using some of the extra push the newly tuned 13B provided him with, he levelled with the Nissan and while the two cars exited the corner together, Ryosuke made it to the second turn slightly ahead.

He then used the short straight which led to the Coca-Cola left-hander to increase the gap between the two cars and by the time he reached the Dunlop chicane, he was leading the race by three and a half seconds.

'Take it easy now,' Shuichi advised.

'I know,' Ryosuke replied.

Easy of course was a relative term and, lap after lap, Ryosuke kept on increasing his gap.

His efforts were rendered pretty much useless when, half way through the race, the two cars in last place crashed against each other making such a mess that the race's director was forced to deploy the safety car.

'Ryosuke,' Hiroshi said, 'how are the tyres?'

'Holding up,' Ryosuke replied.

'Do you want to come in to change them?' Shuichi asked.

'That's a negative,' Ryosuke replied.

He was happy of this decision when he saw that, as they started the eighteenth lap, Yasushi did enter the pitlane to go and replace his Nissan's tyres, leaving the blue S13 in second place right behind Ryosuke and when two laps later the marshals finished clearing up the track and the safety car got back in, he repressed the urge to push it and, instead, he decided to complete the final eight laps in a rather conservative fashion.

Twenty minutes later, Ryosuke crossed the finish line twelve seconds ahead of the S13, beating the course's record and getting his first win at an official national race. Needless to say, he was a very happy man indeed.

'That was a brilliant, brilliant race!' Hiroshi exclaimed excitedly the instant Ryosuke was out of the car.

'I'm so happy I could cry,' Shuichi added looking very emotional.

'Please don't,' Ryosuke told him.

'I told you you'd start winning races very soon, didn't I?' Hiroshi said.

'You did,' Ryosuke admitted.

'You really should re-consider your future,' Hiroshi told him, 'I know you don't have long but…'

'Let's not talk about this now,' Ryosuke said.

'Alright,' a reluctant Hiroshi replied.

'Come on,' Shuichi intervened, 'you've got to go to the podium!'

Collecting his first proper trophy was a whole new experience for Ryosuke and while he posed for the customary picture, he thought that what Hiroshi said was awfully tempting: it had only been eleven months since he'd got his driving license and he had already won a national-class race. Who knew what he could accomplish in the three years he had left before he would have to quit racing altogether?

A week after the race, Ryosuke drove his FC to the Hojo residence near Yokohama to attend the party the family had organised to celebrate the official start of Rin's two-year residency at the Hojo General Hospital. Ryosuke was a little nervous about going there but he knew it would have been very odd, not to mention rude, to decline the invitation. Trying to be optimistic, he reminded himself of the fact that Kaori had never been stupid enough to tell Rin about their kiss. This alone was enough to convince him that he had nothing to fear.

Feeling a little more confident, Ryosuke parked his car right outside the European style mansion where Rin's family lived. Even before he had the time to get out of the FC, he saw the man himself walking down the stone staircase to meet him. Climbing out of the Mazda, Ryosuke locked the door and greeted his senpai:

'Good afternoon.'

'Hello,' Rin said, 'please come in.'

'I brought this,' Ryosuke said handing him a bunch of flowers, 'they're for your mother,' he explained.

'Oh, what a disappointment,' Rin pouted, 'I thought they were for me.'

'Maybe next time,' Ryosuke said following up the joke.

'Promises, promises,' a grinning Rin replied.

Ryosuke felt the usual pang of guilt when seeing the guy looking so happy and, once again, he reminded himself that keeping that smile on Rin's face was on top of the long list of reasons why he needed to stay away from Kaori. Alas, as he followed Rin into the massive house, he saw the girl in question sitting on one of the dark leather couches at the huge living room.

'Everybody,' Rin announced, 'this is my good friend Takahashi Ryosuke. Ryosuke, these are my parents, my younger brother Tsuyoshi, our friend Ito Manabu and, of course, you already know Junichi and my lovely fiancée Kaori.'

'It's very nice to meet you all,' Ryosuke said bowing politely, 'and to see you two again,' he added looking briefly at Junichi and Kaori.

'He brought these for you,' Rin added giving the bouquet to his mother, a tiny woman in her mid-fifties.

'They're lovely,' the woman said, 'thank you very much.'

'You're welcome,' Ryosuke replied.

'Please do sit down,' she offered, 'Rin has told us so much about you that we feel we already know you.'

'How is Doctor Takahashi these days?' Rin's father asked him.

'He's fine,' Ryosuke replied.

'I heard he wants to expand his business to the Tochigi prefecture,' the man commented all-too casually.

'I'm not sure, sir,' Ryosuke said, 'he still doesn't discuss this sort of things with me.'

'Dear,' the mother intervened, 'let's not talk about work right now.'

'Mother is right,' Rin said, 'it's not like if he could tell us anything even if he knew, am I right?'

Ryosuke didn't confirm nor deny it, instead, he asked him:

'When are you starting your residency?'

'On Monday,' Rin replied, 'at eight o'clock sharp, right Father?'

'Yes,' the man said, 'and don't be late! Because you're my son…'

'…I have to set an impeccable example,' Rin finished for him.

'That's right,' the man replied giving an approving nod.

'Don't worry, I really can't wait to start,' Rin said looking very excited, 'I wish it were Monday already!'

Both his parents laughed softly while Ryosuke noticed how Tsuyoshi just about managed to stop himself from rolling his eyes. The other guy, a man in his early twenties just exchanged a glance with Junichi making it obvious that the two knew each other fairly well. Ryosuke was very careful when he looked at Kaori but he realised that his caution was pointless: the girl's gaze seemed to be focused on her cup of tea.

Half an hour later, several other people joined the party and that allowed Ryosuke and Junichi to go out to the garden to get some fresh air, there they found Tsuyoshi and Manabu sitting by the pool browsing through the latest issue of the _Car and Driver_ magazine, discussing an article talking about the new Mazda.

'I'm telling you,' they heard Tsuyoshi saying, 'I know that the FD3S looks pretty quick but I don't really like it.'

'What's wrong with it?' Manabu asked him.

'I don't know,' Tsuyoshi said, 'there's something about it that…'

He stopped speaking when he noticed Ryosuke and Junichi there.

'Please, do continue,' Ryosuke told him, 'we didn't mean to interrupt your conversation.'

'It's okay,' Tsuyoshi said.

'You haven't decided yet then,' Junichi told Tsuyoshi while he sat on a nearby chair.

'No,' the kid admitted, 'it's just that I haven't seen anything I like yet.'

'Are you buying your first car?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Nope,' Tsuyoshi replied, 'it'll be my second, I'm driving an EG6 now but I want to get something faster.'

'There's nothing wrong with the EG6,' Junichi protested.

'You're only saying that because you own one,' Tsuyoshi countered.

'That's right,' Junichi said puffing himself with pride, 'the EG6 is an awesome car.'

'It's an FF,' Tsuyoshi pointed out, 'and I want to get a rear wheel drive like Aniki's GA61.'

'Oh, that's just rubbish!' Junichi exclaimed.

'There you are!' they heard Rin coming out to the garden, 'I knew you were all hiding somewhere…'

'We're talking cars,' Tsuyoshi announced.

'Of course you are,' Rin said taking a seat next to his younger brother, 'you don't talk about anything else.'

'Whose fault is that?' Tsuyoshi countered.

'Mine,' Rin admitted smiling proudly, 'so, have you decided yet?'

'Nope,' Tsuyoshi replied.

The five of them started a heated debate about the cars reviewed by the magazine with Ryosuke finding it amusing how, half an hour later, all they had agreed on was that everyone were entitled to their own opinion.

'By the way,' Rin said talking to Ryosuke, 'I saw your race on TV. You did that thing again, didn't you?'

'What thing?' Junichi asked him.

'You let Kikuchi pass you on purpose again, didn't you?' Rin asked Ryosuke, ignoring Junichi's question.

'Yes,' Ryosuke admitted, 'and it was very enlightening.'

Rin shook his head and said:

'You're incorrigible.'

'Hey,' Tsuyoshi intervened looking at Ryosuke, 'you wouldn't be interested in…'

'He's not,' Rin interrupted him then, noticing Ryosuke's confused expression, he explained, 'this rascal is currently scouting drivers for this dream team he's planning on founding,' he then added staring at his younger brother, 'do spare him, Ryosuke is my rival and you can't recruit someone I'm planning on racing.'

'Speaking of which,' Junichi said, 'when are you guys planning on doing it?'

'Well,' Rin replied, 'to be honest I was hoping of organising something for next week, what do you think?'

'It sounds great,' Ryosuke said trying not to sound too eager.

'Would Saturday at ten o'clock suit your schedule?' Rin asked.

'It would,' Ryosuke confirmed.

'Are you racing at Yabitsu?' Tsuyoshi asked his older brother.

'No,' Rin replied, 'we'll be racing on Mt Akagi.'

'But…'

'Ryosuke,' Rin stopped him, 'if we race at Yabitsu it won't be a real race. We can only level things out a bit if we race at your home course. Besides, I haven't really had enough practice at Mt Akagi's pass and I quite like that road.'

'Alright,' Ryosuke said, 'in that case, I should give you the whole week to train there.'

'That won't be necessary,' Rin declined, 'I'll just need a few runs before the actual race to get used to it.'

'Okay,' Ryosuke accepted.

Later on that day, he drove back home feeling much more relaxed: not only the evening had turned out to be a pretty entertaining one but Kaori had remained with her future mother-in-law during the whole time. He had also enjoyed talking to Tsuyoshi who seemed to be even more of a petrol-head than his older brother but watching the two Hojo brothers talking about cars so enthusiastically made Ryosuke feel a bit jealous. If only Keisuke liked cars as much as he did motorbikes…

Pushing that wishful thinking aside, Ryosuke concentrated on something a lot more tangible: his upcoming race with Rin. For this and the minute he was locked up in his bedroom, he checked that his watch and decided that quarter to ten in the evening was still a decent enough time to make a phone call.

'Hello?' Hiroshi answered.

'It's me,' Ryosuke said, 'I wanted to ask you if you could meet me tomorrow afternoon.'

'Er…' Hiroshi hesitated, Ryosuke heard pages being shuffled then, he heard, 'yes, I'll be free at four o'clock.'

'Alright,' Ryosuke said, 'let's meet up at the café by the Takasaki South's expressway exit.'

'Alright,' Hiroshi agreed, 'do you want me to call Matsumoto too?'

'No, I just need to talk to you,' Ryosuke replied.

'Okay,' Hiroshi accepted.

'Thanks, Fumihiro,' Ryosuke replied.

'No problem,' the man said.

The following day, at four o'clock in a cloudy afternoon, Ryosuke climbed out of his FC to find Hiroshi already waiting for him at the small car park reserved to the café's customers. Going though the conversation he'd prepared one more time, he locked his car and walked to where older man was and after exchanging a quick greeting, the two of them went into the café, sitting at the first empty booth they found. Only once they had placed their orders, an espresso for Ryosuke and an iced coke for Hiroshi, the future doctor said:

'I need you to do me a favour.'

'What do you need?' Hiroshi asked looking a little startled.

'Fumihiro,' he said, 'I am fully aware that what I'm about to ask is quite unreasonable and that it will shock you considerably,' he stopped and, seeing that the man didn't say anything, he continued, 'but I need your support for a very important battle.'

'A battle?' Hiroshi asked frowning a bit.

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied then, lowering his tone of voice, he added, 'a street racing battle.'

'What?' Hiroshi exclaimed, 'you…'

'I know Mikami-san doesn't approve of it,' Ryosuke interrupted him, 'and I'm not asking you to condone it either, all I would need is that you help me next week while I train for it. I won't even ask you to come to the actual race.'

Hiroshi stared at Ryosuke for the longest time before he said:

'Alright, I guess it's only fair.'

'What do you mean?' Ryosuke asked.

'I did press you to enter the Fuji Freshman Series,' Hiroshi explained, 'I guess I should support this too.'

'Thank you,' Ryosuke replied.

'I take you don't want Matsumoto to know about this,' Hiroshi said.

'No,' Ryosuke replied, 'I don't want to put him in such an uncomfortable position.'

'That's sensible,' Hiroshi commented, 'after all, Mikami-san would get really mad if he found out about this.'

'Mikami-san would probably fire Matsumoto if he helped me prepare for an illegal street race,' Ryosuke said.

'That too,' Hiroshi agreed.

'I'm sorry I had to ask you but…'

'It's okay,' Hiroshi interrupted him, 'what do you need me to do exactly?'

'It's not incredibly complicated,' Ryosuke replied, 'I just need you to time me while I do my runs at Mt Akagi. I usually do it myself but I would appreciate having the peace of mind knowing that someone else is taking care of that so that I can concentrate on my driving.'

'Okay, that sounds like an easy enough task,' Hiroshi observed, 'when is the actual race?'

'Saturday at ten o'clock,' Ryosuke replied.

'That's too bad,' Hiroshi said.

'What's wrong?' Ryosuke asked.

'I can't make it,' Hiroshi replied, 'I've got a business dinner in Utsunomiya. I guess I could try to re-schedule it…'

'No,' Ryosuke stopped him, 'I don't want you to do that.'

'But…'

'Fumihiro,' he interrupted him, 'I really don't want to involve you with this any more than it's strictly necessary.'

'Fair enough,' Hiroshi accepted a little reluctantly, 'when do you want us to meet?'

'Let's start on Monday at around eleven o'clock,' Ryosuke said, 'we should meet at the car park at the base of the pass.'

'Alright, I'll be there,' Hiroshi said.

'Thank you,' Ryosuke repeated.

'Just for my information,' Hiroshi asked, 'this is a pretty big deal for you, isn't it?'

'It is,' Ryosuke confirmed.

'That's all I need to know then,' Hiroshi replied.

Ryosuke just nodded and, even though he felt a little lonely thinking of showing up at his first official battle on his own, he was pleased that he could count on Hiroshi to help him prepare for it because he definitely wanted to beat Hojo Rin and, to do that, Ryosuke knew he would need all the help he could get.

_To be continued…_


	13. Chapter Twelve

A/N: I hope that the race will not disappoint you. That said, I'm looking forward to writing the next chapter...I know it's going to be fun! ^_^

As always, thanks for reading.

**Planetarium**

_Chapter Twelve_

The day of the race started with a light drizzle which became a downpour sometime in the early afternoon, so heavy that Ryosuke felt tempted to take the FC to Isesaki so that he could replace the tyres with something more suitable for the drenched tarmac they would probably find that night at Mt Akagi's pass. Alas, he had promised Keisuke he would help him write up the essay that he needed to hand in to his teacher on Monday so that he would advance him to the third year.

'Aniki,' the young man said, 'are you okay?'

'Of course,' Ryosuke replied as firmly as he could.

'You seem a little nervous,' Keisuke pointed out.

'You're imagining things,' Ryosuke replied, 'now, don't get distracted and copy this whole paragraph here.'

'Alright, alright,' Keisuke said.

Ryosuke watched his younger brother while he transcribed with his messy handwriting part of the page from the article on the new educational decree the parliament had just approved. He found it quite ironic that the topic the teacher had selected for this essay was the development of the Japanese educational system from the Meiji era to their current days. Maybe the poor old man thought that Keisuke would find it somehow inspiring.

Many hours later and while his younger brother started getting ready to go out, Ryosuke himself went to take a quick shower feeling reasonably happy that the rain had stopped. With a bit of luck, the wind that was now blowing would dry up the road a bit. At any rate, he tried to make himself feel better thinking that, unlike Rin, he knew every spot of the Mt Akagi's pass where puddles formed after it rained as hard as it did today.

At exactly ten minutes to nine, Ryosuke went to the garage, noticing that Keisuke's CBR was no longer there. Spending a few extra moments to check a number of things in the FC, he climbed into the car and, turning the engine on, he activated the gate's mechanism and, an instant later, he was off and while he drove the Mazda to the bottom of Mt Akagi's pass he started getting mentally prepared for a race he knew he could win.

This was his home course, Ryosuke thought while driving up the dark but gentle slope. He had driven on this road countless times and he was pretty sure that nowadays no one knew it as well as he did. During his investigations of the street racing scene, Ryosuke had found out that the last reasonably famous racer who had claimed Mt Akagi as his home course was some guy called Watanabe Makoto back in the early seventies. Ryosuke decided that it was due time someone else put this road back on the street racing map.

He carried on driving up noticing that, excepting a few wet patches here and there, most of the pass looked a lot drier than he had anticipated and it got better the closer he got to the summit. There, parked along the stretch of road which led to the Ono Lake, Ryosuke found four cars parked: Rin's silver GA61, Junichi's black EG6, another EG6 painted in yellow which he guessed belonged to Rin's younger brother, and a red Toyota AW11.

'Good evening,' he said climbing out of his FC.

'Hello,' Rin replied, 'you're on your own?'

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied.

'Oh, that's too bad,' Rin said giving Ryosuke a pitiful look he didn't really appreciate.

'Do you want to do a few runs before the race?' Ryosuke asked.

'Nope,' Rin replied, 'I've already done that and, to be honest, I don't think it'll do me any good to overdo it.'

'Alright,' Ryosuke accepted, 'maybe your brother and…'

'Ito,' the fourth guy supplied, 'Ito Manabu.'

'Yes,' Ryosuke said, 'maybe your brother and Ito-san would like to take their cars for a few runs.'

'Can we?' Tsuyoshi asked his older brother looking quite hopeful.

'Sure, why not?' Rin replied, 'but make sure you're back up here before ten, okay?'

'Of course,' a very happy Tsuyoshi replied, 'come on Manabu, get in your car.'

'Yes, sir,' Manabu said offering a mock military salute.

A few moments later, Ryosuke saw the yellow Honda leading the way back down followed by the red Toyota and, just as the two cars disappeared around the first right-hander, Rin turned to face Ryosuke and Junichi.

'Now they're gone, there's something I need to tell you,' he said.

'What is it?' Ryosuke asked.

'If I lose to you…'

'Hojo-senpai…'

'Hear me out,' Rin interrupted him, 'if I lose this race, I'm planning on retiring from active racing.'

'What?' Junichi gasped, voicing Ryosuke's own question.

'Why?' Ryosuke then asked.

'Because I don't think I'll have the time to…'

'You never said any of this,' Junichi said with an unmistakable accusative tone, 'you said you would help Tsuyoshi with his team and you promised Keita that you two would race each other when he'd come back from England.'

'I know I said that,' Rin said, 'and I have every intention of doing both things, it's just that I won't be racing as actively as I've done up to now which means that I will probably stop accepting challenges from now on.'

'What if you win?' Ryosuke asked.

'Are you planning on losing?' Rin asked back.

Ryosuke didn't reply to that but, deep down, he thought it was very unfair of Rin to announce something as big as this just before their race. Because of this, he refused to look intimidated and, very firmly, he said:

'Hojo-senpai, please do not to underestimate me.'

'I wouldn't dream of it,' Rin replied, 'after all, this is your home course.'

'Exactly,' Ryosuke confirmed.

'Whoa,' Junichi exclaimed letting out a nervous chuckle, 'you guys should calm down a bit: it's just a race…'

The glare he got from the two future doctors was enough for poor Junichi to regret having spoken in the first place. At any rate, the EG6 driver was only too happy when, some twenty minutes later, Tsuyoshi and Manabu returned from their runs, both looking very impressed by the road. Tsuyoshi went as far as comparing the thrill he'd got with the one he felt as a sixteen year old in his first run down the Yabitsu Pass.

'Were you driving even before you got your license?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Oh no,' the guy replied, 'I was riding shotgun with Aniki, right?'

'Yes,' Rin confirmed, 'it was a lot of fun to hear you screaming your head off.'

'I did NOT scream!' Tsuyoshi protested.

'Yes, you did,' Rin countered, 'but it's okay. I think it taught you a thing or two about going fast.'

'It did,' Tsuyoshi admitted, 'it also taught me not to taunt you about driving too slowly.'

Rin grinned at his younger brother briefly before sobering up and, looking at Ryosuke, he said:

'Shall we start?'

'Of course,' Ryosuke replied.

Two minutes later, the GA61 and the FC3S were lined up at the start of the short straight which led to the first corner of the course and with both engines roaring loudly, Rin and Ryosuke barely heard Junichi's voice asking them if they were ready. Seeing their nods, Junichi lifted his fist up in the air to start the countdown.

'FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE, GO!'

Just as Ryosuke had predicted, Rin took off right at that instant leaving the Mazda behind as his Toyota made it to the entry of the right-hander and because of this, he didn't panic nor did he try to get ahead of the GA61. In fact, he made a visible effort to let Rin pass him while doing his best to stay right behind him.

'He's doing it again,' Junichi commented right after the two cars disappeared around the corner.

'What are you talking about?' Tsuyoshi asked him.

'Ryosuke-san,' Junichi explained, 'he's let your brother drive ahead.'

'What?' the younger guy gasped, 'is he nuts?'

'A little,' Junichi admitted.

'Your brother's going to trash him,' Manabu said looking rather offended.

'That's for sure,' Tsuyoshi agreed.

'We don't know that,' Junichi countered, 'at any rate, I hope Ryosuke-san doesn't regret what he's done.'

'I'm sure he will,' Tsuyoshi said, 'even if this is his home course, Takahashi has no hopes of beating Aniki.'

'No one has beaten your brother in years,' Manabu commented, 'and that FC didn't really look so fast to me.'

'We'll just have to wait and see,' Junichi said refusing to compromise.

'Who are you rooting for?' Tsuyoshi asked him sounding slightly angry.

'No one,' Junichi replied firmly, 'I want to be impartial for this race.'

'How convenient,' Manabu said sarcastically.

Junichi didn't reply to that, instead, he checked the sky, noticing that the clouds were beginning to cover it. He hoped that it wouldn't start raining again for, in his opinion, this race was complicated enough as it was.

A few corners ahead, Ryosuke would have been forced to agree with Junichi's assessment when he observed that, while Rin's driving down the Yabitsu Pass had been highly aggressive, it was nothing when compared to the nearly suicidal way with which the guy was taking his GA61 around even the tighter corners.

Ryosuke knew that Rin had to be pushing his Toyota to its mechanical limits and the way he delayed his braking to the last possible second was as scary as watching him floor the throttle the instant he let go of the brake, darting out of each corner at an impossibly high speed. It was taking Ryosuke all of his recently learned acceleration techniques just to keep up with him and, he feared, Rin was just warming up: the real race hadn't started yet.

Taking a deep breath, he stopped thinking of his opponent and, instead, he started paying attention to his FC. The stiffened suspensions were now helping him corner much faster but, unfortunately, they also made the ride a little too rough. He also noticed that his tyres were beginning to heat up and they were starting to lose grip. Frowning in worry, he quickly figured out the reason why this was happening.

'Idiot,' he told himself.

He had fallen into Rin's trap as easily as a five-year-old he mused while he concentrated on the way he was going around the corners, braking way too late, shifting in the wrong points and making the car's tyres screech in a very unhealthy way. In short, his driving was a royal mess and he knew that it was because of Rin's seemingly erratic behaviour that he had started doing everything he wasn't supposed to do.

Increasing his concentration level a notch, he went into the next corner and, instead of braking at the same time as Rin, he chose to press the pedal only at the point where he knew he had to, shifting down to second and entering the corner following the line he had perfected during his week of intensive training with Hiroshi.

The result was that he exited the left-hander closing the gap between the two cars.

Feeling reasonably happy that he was now back to his usual style, Ryosuke decided he had watched enough of Rin's driving and it was time for him to find a spot where he could overtake the Toyota. Also because, if he wanted to be honest with himself, he didn't think he would be able to keep up with Rin for much longer.

In fact, as the two cars started approaching the last stretch of steep road, just before the gradient became much more favourable, Rin started increasing his pace as if the guy had finally decided to start racing seriously. Ryosuke knew then that he had to make his move as soon as possible before it would be too late.

Picturing the upcoming corners in his brain, Ryosuke felt his lips curving up.

'Let's do this,' he told the FC.

Ryosuke drove his car closer to the GA61's rear bumper, following the Toyota around the wide left-hander which led to the tight right-hand corner he had selected as the spot where he would stage his first attack.

As he expected, he watched Rin exiting that turn keeping to the right side of the road in preparation of the following corner, an almost ninety degree left-hander. That turn was preceded by a short straight that had a reasonably wide hard shoulder that was always hidden by what looked like bushes. Ryosuke knew that the bushes were nothing but branch-free plants and loose leaves that could in no way damage his car.

For this reason and to Rin's immense surprise, Ryosuke veered to the left and driving with half of his FC outside of the road, he managed to place the Mazda right next to the Toyota, increasing his pace just as they approached the left-hander. There, Ryosuke kept his cool when the two cars entered the corner at the same time. Ryosuke knew that it was now down to a battle of guts: the bravest would exit the turn first.

Steeling himself against the steering wheel, he fought the urge to close his eyes while he pushed his car around the left-hander using the inside line. Rin did his best to stay level on the outside but Ryosuke knew that the older man would have to slow down very soon because, right ahead of him and covering over half of the right lane, there was a pretty big puddle of water which the road's draining system hadn't cleared up.

Ryosuke saw the moment when the GA61 decreased the speed and, a moment later, he saw the Toyota's pop-up headlights reflected on the FC's rear view mirror. Allowing himself just a brief instant of joy Ryosuke concentrated once again on keeping his car ahead, fully aware that Rin's revenge would be a vicious one.

Clearing the following corners using the fastest possible line, Ryosuke managed to stay in the lead all the way to the less steep part of the pass. Once there, he used the gentler gradient to start going even faster and as they approached the slope which led to the last sector of the course, Ryosuke noticed that the gap between the two cars was beginning to widen a bit. Frowning, he tried to guess what Rin was planning on doing next.

Just then and as he left the slope at his back, Ryosuke was about to enter a wide right-hander when he felt something which made him forget all about Rin. Trying to remain as calm as possible, he took the car around the corner and that action made the lack of traction from the front tyres even more painfully obvious.

Making an effort to keep his car under control, Ryosuke exited the right-hander and was about to slow down a notch when, all of a sudden, the FC's body shuddered violently and, right then, he finally understood what had happened.

Fighting with the steering wheel and doing his best to decrease the speed as quickly as he could, Ryosuke tried to keep the car away from the wall as it went down the pass. An eternally long instant later, he felt the FC's punctured front left tyre crashing against the kerb making the car come to a very sudden halt.

'Damn it!' he exclaimed just about refraining himself from punching the steering wheel.

He barely saw the moment when Rin's GA61 drove past him but he definitely heard the screeching sound the Toyota's tyres made when its driver forced it to stop. Ryosuke had just opened the door to get out of the FC when he saw Rin climbing out of his car leaving its door wide open while he rushed up the road.

'What happened?' Rin asked sounding a little short of breath.

'You've won,' Ryosuke replied sounding harsher than he intended.

'I meant with the car,' an unfazed Rin said.

'You can see it yourself,' Ryosuke said pointing at the flat tyre.

'Oh,' Rin gasped

Ryosuke knew that he was on the verge of tears and that made him feel so ashamed he didn't know what to say.

'Let's get it changed,' Rin said, 'you've got a spare tyre, haven't you?'

'Yes,' Ryosuke managed to reply.

'Okay,' Rin said, 'then we…'

'Senpai,' Ryosuke interrupted him, 'I'll do that myself, please just go back up and celebrate your victory.'

'Why should I do that?' Rin asked him calmly.

'Because you've won,' Ryosuke replied.

'No I haven't,' Rin said, 'if you hadn't punctured the tyre you…'

'It was a race,' Ryosuke stopped him, 'if this happens at a circuit, you usually lose the race.'

'Not always,' Rin countered, 'and at any rate, that move you pulled up there was amazing, it's been a long time since someone took me by surprise as much as you did and if you hadn't given me the lead at the start…'

'Those are only excuses,' Ryosuke said, 'I still punctured the tyre and you would have crossed the finish line first if you hadn't stopped just now so, like I said, you've won this race.'

'And like I said, I haven't,' Rin countered, 'so, stop being a baby and let me help you change the tyre.'

'I can't continue the race even if I do,' Ryosuke said.

'Of course you can't,' Rin agreed, 'by the looks of it you've probably damaged the suspensions there.'

'I know,' Ryosuke said.

'For this reason,' Rin said, 'I've decided that we'll race again.'

'We will?' Ryosuke asked almost sounding hopeful.

'Of course,' Rin said, 'but you'll have to do me a favour in exchange.'

'A favour?'

'Yes,' Rin replied, 'I'm going to be honest with you: I'm worried about Kaori,' Ryosuke didn't say anything to that, 'I know that you two are far from being friends and I know that the way she behaved with you when you two met probably freaked you out but you know she's not a bad person, don't you?'

'I never thought she was,' Ryosuke replied.

'I'm not asking you to become friends with her,' Rin continued, 'all I need you to do is to keep an eye on her while you two will be at school. Now that I won't be there, I'm worried she'll feel lonely. She doesn't have anyone who she's close with and…well, do you think you can do me this favour in exchange for another race?'

Ryosuke remained silent for a short while pondering his options then, deciding that Rin's request wasn't such an unreasonable one and since he really wanted to race him again, he nodded once and said:

'Alright, we've got a deal.'

'Okay,' Rin said looking very pleased, 'now, where's that spare tyre?'

'Senpai,' Ryosuke insisted, 'I can change the tyre myself, please don't worry about it.'

'Are you sure?' Rin asked.

'Positive,' Ryosuke replied.

'Okay,' Rin accepted, 'in that case, I'll go back up and tell the guys that we've put this race on hold.'

'For how long?' Ryosuke dared to ask.

'Not too long,' Rin reassured him, 'I'm hoping I'll have time to race you again before the end of the summer.'

'That's acceptable,' Ryosuke commented.

'I'm glad you think that,' Rin said.

'And we'll race at Yabitsu, right?' Ryosuke asked being a little cheeky.

'You wish,' Rin replied.

'But…'

'We'll race here and, if you beat me, then we'll race at Yabitsu or wherever else you prefer, okay?'

'Okay,' Ryosuke replied feeling a little better.

'Now, do me a favour and call me whenever you get home, I won't sleep well if you don't,' Rin said.

'Alright, I'll call you,' Ryosuke promised, 'Hojo-senpai, with all due respect, you're such a mother hen.'

'I know,' a grinning Rin replied, 'it comes from being the older brother, you should know all about that.'

'Unfortunately, I do,' Ryosuke admitted.

Rin let out a soft chuckle before turning round to head back to his car. A few moments later, Ryosuke watched the Toyota's taillights disappear around the corner and only then he walked to the back of his FC to retrieve the spare tyre, the jack and the lug wrench. Laying them out next to the car, he climbed back in so that he could pull it away from the kerb and was about to climb back out when he saw a couple of headlights driving up the road. An instant later, he saw that the car was Hiroshi's dark blue Toyota AW11.

'Oh brilliant,' Ryosuke muttered to himself. He waited until Hiroshi stopped his car and, the moment he climbed out of it, he said, 'I hope you didn't cancel your business dinner to come here.'

'No, I didn't,' Hiroshi replied, 'I managed to close the deal fairly quickly because I though you'd appreciate the support but it looks like the race both started AND ended a little earlier than expected.'

'I don't really appreciate the sarcasm,' Ryosuke said darkly.

'Sorry,' Hiroshi said, 'what happened?'

'Isn't it obvious?' Ryosuke asked back.

'Where's your opponent?' Hiroshi asked then.

'Gone home, I hope,' Ryosuke said, 'now, if you excuse me, I've got to take care of this.'

'I'll help,' Hiroshi offered.

'Do I really look that helpless to you?' Ryosuke asked then, noticing Hiroshi's confused look, he added, 'I am more than perfectly capable of replacing a tyre, thank you very much. It's hardly rocket science.'

'Wow,' Hiroshi gasped, 'you're a little touchy tonight, aren't you?'

Ryosuke chose to ignore him and, instead, he grabbed the jack, jamming it in its place.

'What happened with the race?' a brave Hiroshi tried again.

'It's on hold,' Ryosuke said while he pumped up the jack, 'now, if you really want to help, please be quiet.'

'Alright,' Hiroshi replied calmly, 'just answer one more question: I take you're planning on doing this again?'

'That's correct,' Ryosuke said.

'In that case,' Hiroshi said, 'I'll be coming to watch your races as often as I can, if that's okay with you.'

'Feel free,' Ryosuke replied.

'I will,' Hiroshi promised.

The following Monday, Ryosuke drove the FC to the Gunma University Medical School a lot more carefully than usual being aware that he shouldn't push it in any way before he could take it to Isesaki later on that day to do a full check up. He would have to place special emphasis on the left front tyre's suspensions and he knew that he'd been extremely lucky not to damage the car any further. Heck, he could have had a potentially fatal accident…

He had just finished that thought when, parking the FC, he saw Kaori standing there, waiting for him.

'Speaking of fatalities,' he mumbled to himself.

Stopping the car's engine, he took his time to grab his bag, climb out of it and lock the door while he prepared himself for the verbal battle which would probably ensue. He then turned round and greeted her trying to sound as detached as humanly possible:

'Good morning, Kaori-san.'

'I'm glad you're speaking to me,' the girl asked sounding just a little bitter.

'Don't push it,' Ryosuke warned her.

'Sorry,' she hurried to say, 'I just wanted to tell you something.'

'Go ahead,' Ryosuke said forcing himself to be civil.

'I know Hojo-san probably asked you to keep an eye on me,' Kaori started.

'He did,' Ryosuke admitted.

'Of course,' Kaori said, the bitterness becoming even more pronounced.

'I…'

'Look,' she interrupted him, 'I don't need a baby-sitter, okay? All I want is to be friends with you.'

'Really?' Ryosuke asked sounding extremely sarcastic.

'That…kiss…it was a mistake,' Kaori said.

'A massive one,' Ryosuke agreed mercilessly.

'Please,' Kaori insisted, 'can we try again? Can we be friends?'

'I'm not sure,' Ryosuke said then, deciding to be honest, he said, 'I don't trust you and…'

'…and you don't trust yourself with me,' Kaori finished for him.

Ryosuke refused to confirm or deny this, instead, he said:

'I've got to go.'

'Have lunch with me,' Kaori said, 'we could go to our usual restaurant.'

'Don't say "our",' Ryosuke ordered her, 'there's no "our" or "we" or anything like that, okay?'

Kaori just nodded.

'I need more time,' Ryosuke continued, 'and lunch is too much too soon.'

'Okay,' Kaori said.

She sounded like she wanted to say something else when, right at that moment, Ryosuke saw his classmate Yamashita Tatsuro coming towards him sporting a stupidly hopeful expression on his bespectacled face.

'Takahashi!' he exclaimed, 'just the man I wanted to see this morning!'

'Good morning,' Ryosuke forced himself to say.

'Listen,' Tatsuro said going straight to the point, 'we've organised a small party with some girls from the nursing school but we're short on one guy, I know you don't usually take part in this kind of things but…'

'I'm in,' Ryosuke interrupted him.

'You are?' Tatsuro asked looking startled.

'Yes,' Ryosuke said acutely aware that Kaori's eyes were boring into him, 'when are you guys meeting?'

'Thursday evening,' Tatsuro replied, 'there's a new place that's just opened in Maebashi and we…'

'Okay,' Ryosuke stopped him again, 'you can tell me all the details after the opening ceremony.'

'S-sure,' Tatsuro stuttered.

'Speaking of which,' Ryosuke continued, 'we should get going or we'll be late.'

'Okay,' Tatsuro replied.

'I'll see you around, Kaori-san,' Ryosuke said just before he started walking away from the girl followed by a still stunned looking Tatsuro. He knew that what he'd just done was nothing short of cruel but he needed to make sure Kaori would understand that there would never be anything other than friendship between the two of them and that, should he chose to do so, he would date as many girls as he wanted, just not her.

Never her, Ryosuke swore to himself.

_To be continued…_


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**Planetarium**

_Chapter Thirteen_

Even after several hours, Ryosuke still felt a little shaken up by his first thing in the morning encounter with Kaori. He felt even worse remembering that he'd agreed with Tatsuro to join him and four other of their classmates in an evening out with what Tatsuro himself had described as six _piping hot_ nursing students. Trying very hard not to think about that, he started the FC's engine and drove it out of the car park as quickly as he could.

He was soon on his way to Mikami-san's automotive workshop and, when he arrived there half an hour later, he saw Shuichi closing the bonnet's cover of an ancient looking Mazda Capella while one of his colleagues took care of disposing of the old broken down parts. Both men looked surprised to see the white FC there.

'Hey,' Shuichi said while Ryosuke climbed out of his car, 'what's up?'

'I didn't you know you'd be coming here today,' Shuichi's colleague said.

'Neither did I,' Ryosuke admitted.

'What have you done to the poor thing?' Shuichi then asked throwing a pitiful glance at the FC.

'Nothing,' Ryosuke replied refusing to take offence, 'I just punctured a tyre and I wanted to make sure that nothing else got damaged.'

'Why would it get damaged?' Shuichi asked frowning, 'if it was just a puncture…'

'Let's just say that a kerb helped me stop the car,' Ryosuke explained being as vague as possible.

'Uh-oh,' the colleague laughed softly, 'I think I'll leave you two to it, I'm off for today.'

'Thanks for the hard work, senpai,' Shuichi told him offering him a quick bow.

'Same to you,' the man replied.

As soon as Ryosuke was left alone with Shuichi, the mechanic told him to get back in the FC and drive it onto one of the car lifts so that they could hoist it up. Once this was done, Ryosuke climbed out of his car and waited until the Mazda was nearly two metres up in the air. Shuichi stepped under the car and started doing one of the quick check-ups the guy was so famous for. While he did that, he asked Ryosuke:

'Which tyre did you puncture?'

'The front-left one,' Ryosuke replied.

'Okay,' Shuichi said.

'Listen, I can do this myself,' Ryosuke started, 'I'm sure you've got plenty of things to do and…'

'Don't even try,' Shuichi stopped him, 'just the fact that you've taken your car here so that you could check it tells me that what you did to it was bad enough to make you very worried, besides, we've got the next Fuji Series race in less than three weeks and it is my responsibility to make sure the car is race-worthy, okay?'

'Alright,' Ryosuke accepted reluctantly.

'Good,' Shuichi said, 'now, why don't you get me the pneumatic lug wrench so that we can get rid of this tyre?'

'Sure,' Ryosuke replied.

Handing him the tool, he waited while Shuichi removed the spare tyre and, with that done, the man used a small but powerful torch to start inspecting the suspension arm as well as the brakes while Ryosuke went up to retrieve the punctured tyre from the car's trunk. He got it down and started checking the MS-10 MAG wheel, noticing that there was a pretty nasty dent on the edge of it. This made Ryosuke feel very angry at himself.

'So,' Shuichi asked from under the car, 'how exactly did you get the puncture?'

'I was just driving down Mt Akagi,' Ryosuke replied refusing to be more specific.

'Right,' Shuichi replied sounding very sceptical 'how fast were you driving when it happened?'

'As usual,' Ryosuke replied forgetting all about the punctured tyre, 'did I do any damage to the suspension?'

'Well,' Shuichi said, 'to begin with, it looks to me like you drove the poor thing over some leafy, earthen surface because there's quite a bit of dirt and even a few leaves stuck in there. Also, the suspension arm seems to have taken quite a bad hit, you said you crashed the tyre against a kerb, didn't you?'

Ryosuke wasn't surprised in the slightest for he knew that fooling a mechanic was a pretty difficult thing to pull, especially when said mechanic was as good as Shuichi. For this reason, he just nodded once and said:

'I drove too wide in one of the corners and I did go off-road for a bit. I went to check the following morning and I found bits of broken glass hidden under the leaves, they're what caused the puncture.'

'And how fast were you going when you stopped the car?' Shuichi asked him again.

'Quite fast,' Ryosuke admitted.

'Were you on your own?' Shuichi asked.

'Yes,' Ryosuke lied.

'I see,' Shuichi said. The man remained silent for a short moment then, he added with a studied casual tone, 'you know, I've heard this weird rumour about some white FC which has been showing up at illegal street races.'

'Really?' Ryosuke asked looking a little too innocent.

'Yeah,' Shuichi said.

'Imagine that,' Ryosuke said.

'Don't you have anything you'd like to tell me?' Shuichi asked him.

'No, I don't,' Ryosuke replied firmly.

Once again Shuichi remained quiet then, clearly humouring him, he changed the topic of their conversation.

'Did you hear about Sudo?' he asked Ryosuke.

'No,' he replied feeling washed with relief, 'what about him?'

'He's going to enter this year's Mitsubishi Challenge Cup,' Shuichi announced.

'Is that so?' Ryosuke said looking a bit disappointed.

'You're not happy to hear that?' a confused Shuichi asked him.

'Why would I be?' Ryosuke asked.

'I thought you'd be pleased knowing that Sudo won't be anywhere near the Fuji Series,' Shuichi replied.

'I wouldn't mind if he were,' Ryosuke replied, 'I quite like beating the kind of racers he represents.'

Shuichi stared at him in disbelief before shaking his head.

'You know,' he said, 'I think that good guy façade of yours hides someone who can be quite ruthless sometimes.'

'What do you mean?' Ryosuke asked.

'Let's just put it this way,' a smirking Shuichi said, 'I'm very happy you consider me your friend.'

Ryosuke felt his lips curving into a soft smile before he said:

'Alright, my friend, let's get back to work.'

'Yes, boss,' Shuichi replied.

Shaking of the guilt he'd felt while lying to the mechanic, Ryosuke reminded himself the long list of reasons why it was imperative Shuichi was kept in the dark regarding his street racing activities. The man already was more than a little suspicious but Ryosuke thought that the less Shuichi knew the better for everyone.

On Thursday evening, right after dinner and with a new set of GAB suspensions having been ordered to replace the stock ones, Ryosuke carefully drove his FC to Maebashi where, unbelievably enough, he was going to meet with Tatsuro and four other guys. Ryosuke had considered cancelling the appointment on countless occasions but he had ultimately decided against it, knowing that if he did and Kaori ever found out, it would send a highly misleading message to the girl.

At any rate, Ryosuke convinced himself that he could use the evening to do a bit of anthropological research on the mating rituals of a group of average university students. Ryosuke found that if he thought of this whole affair in strictly scientific terms, he would somehow get through the night without wanting to drive back home as fast as he could.

Smiling at his own genius, Ryosuke parked the car right outside the meeting point just outside the Maebashi Cultural Centre where there were several bars, cafés and a couple of clubs. He saw Tatsuro standing there with four of their classmates who looked just vaguely familiar to him.

'Hey!' the bespectacled, short guy exclaimed, 'you're here!'

Captain Obvious, Ryosuke thought, instead, he forced himself to continue smiling and said:

'Yes, sorry I'm a bit late.'

'No worries,' Tatsuro said, 'it looks like the girls are running a bit late themselves.'

'They always are,' one of the four guys complained.

'In any case,' Tatsuro continued, 'let's go inside and get our table ready before they do show up.'

'Okay,' Ryosuke accepted.

A stupidly long time later and while he only half-listened to Tatsuro's tedious rant about the girl he had a crush on, Ryosuke saw a group of six girls coming into the trendy bar they were in. One of them, a short, big-breasted bimbo with bottle-blonde, unnaturally curly hair, spotted Tatsuro and then giggled something at her friends.

'That's her!' Tatsuro whispered excitedly.

No kidding, Ryosuke thought trying hard not to burst out laughing.

'Nice,' he said instead.

'She is great,' a beaming Tatsuro agreed.

Soon enough all six girls were sitting along one side of the table while the boys sat along the other side, each of them facing one of the girls. They waited until the waiter finished distributing the menus to start the very embarrassing yet necessary self-introduction process.

'Hi,' Tatsuro started, 'my name is Yamashita Tatsuro. I'm a second year medical student.'

'I'm Aoyama Rie,' the bottle-blonde girl said, 'I'm going to be a nurse and you guys can call me Rie-chan.'

'How cute,' Tatsuro added unnecessarily.

'I'm Isaka Koichiro,' the guy next to Tatsuro said, 'also a second year medical student.'

'Kano Chisako,' the girl sitting in front of him said, 'I'm a first year nursing student.'

'We all call her Chisa-chan,' Rie explained brilliantly, 'isn't that a cute nickname?'

'Very cute,' Tatsuro promptly agreed, 'but not as cute as you.'

Ryosuke almost gagged hearing that. He took a large gulp from the glass of iced water he had in front of him while Ohno Akihiko, Aikawa Sachi, Kamiya Renzo, Maruyama Daimaru and the Koike twins, Asako and Mariko, all finished introducing each other. Being his turn, he tried to sound as friendly as possible and said:

'I'm Takahashi Ryosuke, second year medical student. It's nice to meet you all.'

'He's so cool!' one of the twins exclaimed shamelessly while her girlfriends fully agreed with her.

'Why didn't you bring your cute friend to any of our parties before?' Rie asked Tatsuro.

'I tried,' Tatsuro said looking a little disgruntled, 'I…'

'Excuse me,' Ryosuke interrupted the brainless conversation, 'this lady here hasn't introduced herself yet.'

The girl in question looked like she would rather have her legs waxed than having to speak and it was that, together with the fact that she looked as out of place as he felt which made Ryosuke start paying attention to her.

'I'm Irie Erika,' the girl said, 'and I'm not a nursing student.'

'You're not?' Ryosuke asked her.

'No,' Erika replied, 'I'm studying to become a veterinarian.'

'Can we call you Eri-chan?' Tatsuro asked her.

'Not if you want me to answer you,' Erika replied sounding deadpan.

'Oh…'

'Anyway,' Rie intervened, 'why don't we order?'

'Excellent idea,' Tatsuro agreed, 'you ladies get whatever you want, it's on us men.'

'Sweet,' Rie replied offering him a huge smile.

While everyone was busy discussing what they should order, Ryosuke found himself observing Erika who, lifting her eyes up from her copy of the menu, frowned a bit and with a voice just above a whisper she said:

'Could you please stop that?'

'Stop what?' Ryosuke asked.

'The staring,' she replied dryly, 'it's making me nervous.'

'Sorry,' Ryosuke said.

Erika realised that she had been a little too rough and, trying to smile, failing spectacularly, she said:

'I'm sorry too. It's just that I want to get through tonight as quickly as possible.'

'Why is that?' Ryosuke asked her.

'Do I look like I want to be here?' Erika asked him instead.

'Not really,' Ryosuke admitted then, something made him ask, 'why are you here, then?'

'It's Rie's idea,' Erika explained, 'and I've just broken up with my boyfriend and she thought it would do me good if…well…'

'If you met other guys,' Ryosuke finished for her.

'Precisely,' Erika said.

'But now you think it's been a terrible idea,' he also said.

Erika just nodded then, she frowned again and said:

'No offence but you don't strike to me like the sort of guy who'd come here voluntarily.'

It was Ryosuke's turn to remain silent and, in any case, he wouldn't have been able to reply to that because right at that moment, the waiter showed up ready to start taking their orders. He found it interesting to see that while the other five girls got pretty fancy stuff like exotic cocktails and dubious multi-juices mixes, Erika seemed to be perfectly happy with a simple glass of iced tea.

'Takahashi-san,' Rie exclaimed from the other side of the table, 'you're only going to have a coke?'

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied.

'He's so cool!' the two twins said at the same time.

'What's so cool about a glass of coke?' Tatsuro asked them.

'Oh, you wouldn't understand,' Rie told him patting him on his hand.

It took all of his willpower not to roll his eyes when he saw Tatsuro looking overly happy with the brief skin contact which, apparently, was more than enough for him to get distracted and forget about the fact that Rie wasn't paying anywhere near as much attention to him as she did to Ryosuke. At any rate, Ryosuke was only too happy when their orders arrived since that seemed to distract everyone else.

'So,' he heard Erika saying while he stirred the ice cubes in his drink, 'what are you really doing here?'

'I'm not entirely sure,' he replied looking up for a moment.

'A whim?' she tried.

'Yes,' Ryosuke said, 'that's what it was.'

For the first time, Erika let out a soft chuckle and that sound made him glance back at her.

'What's so funny?' he asked her.

'You and me,' she replied, 'we're a little pathetic, aren't we?'

Ryosuke considered taking offence for that then, realising that she was probably right, he asked her:

'Are you always so honest?'

'Do you have a problem with that?' she asked back.

'Do you always answer questions with another question?' he challenged her.

'I think I do,' she admitted.

'Alright,' Ryosuke said.

He was going to drop the conversation there when she said:

'So, what's her name?'

'What?'

'The name of the girl you're trying to forget,' Erika asked.

Ryosuke was too taken aback by this sudden question then, fighting to recover his composure, he said:

'There's no one.'

Erika seemed like she wasn't buying it but, visibly letting it to, she decided to be the one to share:

'My boyfriend…well, ex-boyfriend's name is Miura Kazuma.'

'How long were you together for?' Ryosuke asked not really knowing the reason why he wanted to know.

'Four years,' Erika replied.

'Did you end it?' he asked her.

'In a way,' Erika said then, without needing a further prompt, she explained, 'we both have different dreams and they're no longer compatible. He wants to be an architect and he just transferred to New York University to complete his degree there. I want to work for the Japanese Racing Association so I needed to stay here in Japan.'

'You like horses?' Ryosuke asked her.

'I love them,' Erika said showing such a strong passion that it left him speechless.

'What are you guys talking about?' Daimaru chose that moment to interrupt their conversation.

'Nothing much,' Erika replied.

'We're thinking about going to the karaoke,' Chisako announced all of a sudden.

'You're coming too, right?' Rie asked Ryosuke giving him a very obvious hopeful look.

'I don't think so,' he replied.

'Why not?' she asked him with a disappointed pout.

'Er…'

'Takahashi's probably busy,' Tatsuro hurried to say.

'Yes, I am,' Ryosuke replied taking the hint, 'in fact, if you ladies excuse me, I should go home soon.'

'I want to go home too,' Erika said.

'Oh, I see,' Tatsuro commented suddenly looking very pleased, 'in that case, we won't stand in the way.'

Ryosuke knew perfectly well what the bespectacled guy was thinking but, since Erika didn't seem too bothered either, he decided not to correct the notion, also because it gave him the perfect excuse to get the hell out of there as fast as he could. For this reason, he got up from his chair and, taking their bill, he said:

'I'll take care of this, you guys have fun.'

'Oh, thanks Takahashi,' Akihiko said.

'That's awfully nice of you,' Renzo agreed.

'It's the least I can do,' Ryosuke said, 'thank you for the invitation,' he said glancing at Tatsuro.

'You're welcome,' the guy replied looking so relieved to see him go that it was almost funny.

After paying for the group's drinks, Ryosuke went to open the door for Erika when the girl grabbed the handle herself leaving him with no option but to follow her outside. She turned round towards him and trying to smile, she said:

'Thanks for making this evening a slightly less horrible one.'

'You're welcome, I think,' Ryosuke replied.

'Good night,' she then said.

'Irie-san,' he stopped her driven by some unknown instinct, 'how are you getting home?'

'I'll take the bus,' Erika replied, 'it's not too far, I…'

'Can I give you a lift? My car's parked just there,' he said pointing at the white FC. He saw that Erika was having some sort of inner debate and that made him feel a little odd, for this reason, he said, 'it's okay if…'

'Alright,' she finally replied, 'it's just a five minute drive after all.'

'Okay,' Ryosuke said.

Two minutes later they were onboard the FC and, with the engine running, he asked her for directions.

'It really isn't far,' he commented once they were on the road.

'No, it's not,' she said, 'I'm lucky I live so close to the city centre.'

'You don't have a car?' Ryosuke asked her.

'I do,' she replied, 'I drive one of those…I think they're called kei-something.'

'Kei-cars,' Ryosuke supplied, 'which one?'

'All I know it's that it's a Suzuki,' she said, 'my father bought it for me as a high school graduation present.'

'My father bought me this one as a graduation present too,' he said indicating the FC.

'That's a weird coincidence,' Erika commented visibly relaxing a bit.

'It is,' Ryosuke said.

'This is it,' she said a moment later pointing at a rather big house.

Ryosuke drove the FC to the entrance and, stopping there, he went to turn the engine off when he saw Erika removing her seatbelt as quickly as possible as though she couldn't wait to get out of the car. He considered saying something to stop her but his own pride forced him to remain silent while she got the door open. Then, something odd happened: Erika hesitated for a moment then, she closed the door again.

'I'm sorry,' she said

'What's wrong?' he asked her.

'I…I don't want to go home just yet,' she confessed.

Once again, he didn't know what to say.

'I know I'm being unreasonable,' she said, 'I'm just afraid I'll give in to temptation and I'll try to call him.'

'We could go for a drive somewhere,' Ryosuke suggested.

'Could we?' she asked sounding surprised.

'Yes,' he replied, 'I can't push it too much because I'm in the middle of fixing something in the car but…'

'It's okay,' she interrupted him, 'I don't really like going too fast anyway.'

'Alright,' Ryosuke said.

He drove away from the Irie residence before neither of them could change their minds and without meaning to, he realised that he was driving them to Mt Akagi's pass. Remembering that the FC's front-left suspension wasn't up for the job, he decided at the last possible moment to stay away from that twisted pass, choosing the slightly less scenic but much safer provincial road that connected Maebashi with Takasaki.

'Where are we going?' Erika asked him.

'I'm not sure yet,' Ryosuke replied, 'I was thinking of going to the campus, there's a nice view from there.'

'Okay,' she agreed.

While they drove in silence, Ryosuke couldn't help but to steal a couple of glances at the girl he had sitting next to him. Using the occasional illumination provided by the streetlights, he shocked himself when he noticed that he was comparing Erika's down-to-earth beauty with Kaori's more ethereal one. It didn't help that both girls had long hair and that their build was also more or less the same.

'You're doing it again,' Erika commented.

'What?' he asked.

'The staring,' she said.

'Ah, sorry,' he hurried to say focusing his eyes back on the road.

Erika didn't say anything which helped him feel a lot less embarrassed. This was another difference between this girl and Kaori, Ryosuke noted. While Rin's fiancée would have probably said something which would have made him feel very uncomfortable, with Erika he felt reasonably safe and he was fairly confident he had nothing to fear. Was it because it was obvious she still had strong feelings for her ex?

'Irie-san,' he started, 'you mentioned you wanted to work for the Japanese Racing Association.'

'That's right,' Erika said.

'What exactly would you do?' he asked.

'They have a team of veterinarians who look after all the horses that take part in the competitions,' she said.

'It sounds like it's a difficult job to get,' Ryosuke commented.

'It's extremely difficult,' Erika confirmed, 'but not impossible. If I work very hard, I'm hoping I'll get a recommendation from one of my lecturers. He's got some contacts in the Association and he promised he would help me as long as my exam results are impeccable.'

'That's always useful,' Ryosuke commented.

'It is,' Erika agreed, 'which is the reason why I couldn't give up the chance to make my dream come true just so that I could go with Kazuma-kun to the US.'

'So he asked you to go with him,' Ryosuke said as gently as he could.

'He did,' Erika said, 'but I couldn't go anymore than I could ask him to stay. Going to New York was such a huge opportunity for him and I knew that even before we got together in junior high he was already dreaming of going to the US.'

'So you let him go,' Ryosuke said.

'I had no choice,' Erika corrected him. 'It's been the hardest two weeks of my entire life.'

'I can't even imagine,' Ryosuke said then, something made him say, 'will you wait for him until he returns?'

'No,' Erika said, 'I've made my decision and I think it's better this way.'

'Okay,' Ryosuke said.

They had finally arrived at the Gunma University campus. Ryosuke parked the car at the top level of the parking area, the one which usually was reserved to the lecturers but that was now devoid of cars. From there, one could see a large part of the city as well as some of the beautiful mountains surrounding the area.

'You were right,' Erika commented observing through the windscreen, 'it really is a great view.'

'I'm glad you think so,' Ryosuke replied feeling oddly pleased with himself.

He then spent the next hour listening to Erika while the girl talked about what he figured was her favourite topic of conversation: horses. He was in awe of seeing just how much she already knew about them and it was obvious that she loved them as much as Ryosuke had come to love anything which ran on four tyres.

'I'm sorry,' Erika said after a while, 'I'm probably boring you.'

'No, you're not,' he denied, 'but it is getting a little late…'

'I'm ready to go home now,' Erika announced.

'Okay,' he said turning the engine back on, 'listen,' he added as casually as possible, 'if you're free tomorrow, why don't you come here?' he asked, 'we could go somewhere for lunch and continue this conversation.'

'Why would you want to listen to my rant?' Erika asked.

'Because I think it's fascinating the amount of things you know about horses,' he said sounding very honest.

'Really?' she asked looking incredulous.

'Really,' he confirmed, 'I'm very curious to find out more about what you think makes them faster.'

'Alright,' Erika said smiling a little, 'I guess I could make it here for lunchtime if I take my car to school.'

'Let's meet at the entrance at about noon,' he suggested.

'Okay,' Erika agreed.

An hour later and after dropping her by her house in Maebashi, Ryosuke parked the FC in the garage feeling quite happy with the way things had turned out. What was supposed to be a horrific evening had resulted in him meeting a rather interesting girl and, while he certainly didn't have any romantic aspirations with Erika, he found she was as far as it got from the sort of big-chested bubbly-headed girls he hated so much, and he had genuinely enjoyed their time together making him think that, maybe, he had finally found an intelligent girl he could be friends with and who wasn't engaged to the man who had introduced him to racing.

With that very positive thought, he stepped into the living room and, to his shock, he found Keisuke there.

'Hey,' the kid said removing his eyes from the TV screen just for a moment.

'What are you doing here?' Ryosuke asked while taking a seat on his usual armchair.

'This is my home too, you know?' a smirking Keisuke replied.

'I know that, idiot,' Ryosuke said, 'it's just that's not even eleven yet, you're usually out with your friends.'

'Yeah,' Keisuke said, 'I just didn't feel like going out.'

'Are you okay?' Ryosuke asked looking very worried all of a sudden.

'Why wouldn't I be?' Keisuke asked back, 'I'm just having a quiet night in, that's all.'

'Are you sure?' he insisted.

'Yeah,' Keisuke replied, 'what about you? Did you go for a drive tonight?'

'Not really,' Ryosuke said noticing how his younger brother was not-so-subtly removing the focus from his own person, 'I went out…'

'With a girl?' Keisuke interrupted.

'Maybe,' Ryosuke replied.

He tried not to laugh when, due to the shock, Keisuke dropped the TV's remote and stuttering badly, he asked:

'Y-you've got a g-girlfriend?'

Ryosuke didn't reply to that preferring to enjoy Keisuke's utterly bewildered expression instead.

'Wow,' the kid said raking his fingers through his bleached spikes, 'this is too heavy.'

'So, what's on TV?' Ryosuke asked him.

'No wait, you can't change topic now,' Keisuke complained, 'I…'

'What about you?' Ryosuke stopped him, 'what about…what was her name again?'

'Michiko,' Keisuke supplied looking sourly all of a sudden.

'Is everything alright?' Ryosuke asked.

'I don't know,' Keisuke replied taking the bait, 'sometimes I think girls are too much trouble.'

'I can't disagree with that,' Ryosuke said, 'but, you know, I'm surprised.'

'About?' Keisuke asked.

'It really is beyond me,' Ryosuke started, 'how you're incapable of remembering any of the European capitals but yet, you seem to have no problem keeping up with the names of the many girls you've been dating.'

'I think it's better if we watch TV,' Keisuke said making Ryosuke smile again.

This good mood lasted all the way through the following morning especially when, during their mid-morning break, he heard Tatsuro planning another get-together, noticing how the bespectacled guy was purposely keeping Ryosuke out of it and, knowing that from now on he would no longer be invited to that sort of things made Ryosuke feel even happier.

At the end of the morning lecture, he grabbed his books, placing them in the bag as quickly as he could. He then rushed out of the classroom and hurried along the corridor checking his watch as he did so: it was five to twelve. He made it to the entrance with only a couple of minutes to spare and, as he feared, Erika was already there waiting for him.

'Sorry,' he said, 'I was…'

'It's fine,' she stopped him offering him a smile, 'I got here earlier because I didn't want to get lost.'

'I see,' Ryosuke said.

'I don't have a stellar orientation sense and…'

Out of the corner of an eye, Ryosuke saw Kaori walking down the stairs looking like she was heading towards them. Feeling something similar to panic he took Erika by her hand and without really knowing what he was doing, he started almost literally dragging her away from the entrance. His brain just about registered the devastated expression on Kaori's face as well as Erika's startled one while she also tried to protest:

'What are you…'

'Let's go,' he ordered her.

The girl only humoured him all the way to the car park where Ryosuke saw a tiny red Suzuki parked right next to his own FC. He was about to get the key out of his pocket when Erika stopped him and, with her voice clipped with anger, she announced:

'Alright, I think I'm going to go home.'

'No, wait…' he started.

'I don't know what you're playing at,' she said, 'but I don't want to be part of this game.'

_To be continued…_


	15. Chapter Fourteen

A/N: Alright, I managed to get this chapter written in spite of the fact that my best friend is coming to stay with us for a few days and I'm getting things ready for her. For this reason, I won't be able to write the new chapter until at least the weekend. Sorry about that! Hopefully this will give some of you time to catch up...

As always, thanks for the feedback! ^_^

**Planetarium**

_Chapter Fourteen_

'Irie-san, wait,' Ryosuke hurried to say.

'Why should I?' the girl asked.

'Because I'm not playing games,' Ryosuke promised her.

'What are you doing then?' Erika asked him.

Ryosuke hesitated before answering to the question, reluctant to admit what he already knew not-so-deep-down.

'I don't really know,' he finally said looking so dejected that Erika's expression softened considerably.

'Do you want to talk about it?' she suggested.

'I don't even know if there's anything to talk about,' Ryosuke replied.

'Well,' she said offering him a small smile, 'you listened to my boring equine talk last night, didn't you?'

He stared at her and, in spite of himself, he smiled too and said:

'I did promise you a lunch.'

'You did,' Erika confirmed.

'Let's go then,' Ryosuke said.

'Where to?' Erika asked.

'Do you trust me?' he said.

'In theory,' she replied honestly.

'Fair enough,' Ryosuke said then, indicating his car, he added, 'if you please.'

To his relief, he saw Erika walking around the FC. This prompted him to go and get the doors unlocked and a few moments later the two of them were onboard the Mazda, with Ryosuke driving them out of the parking space. Soon after that they were off, not to the ramen restaurant as he'd originally planned but, instead, Ryosuke took Erika to one of the most exclusive sushi bars in Takasaki's city centre.

'This is a very expensive place,' Erika commented getting out of the car.

'It doesn't matter,' he said, 'I feel like sushi right now.'

'What are you celebrating?' Erika asked him.

'I'm not sure yet,' Ryosuke confessed.

The two walked into the posh looking place and after they were shown to a couple of empty leather stools by the bar, they were given a couple of glasses of water while the waiter took their drinks order. They spent a few instants watching the sushi servings running by on the carousel in front of them before Ryosuke took a dish containing a couple of fatty-tuna ones, another one with eel and four salmon rolls. Their drinks arrived just as Erika decided to favour a dish with algae salad and four cucumber ones.

'Don't you like fish?' he asked her looking at her choice.

'I'm a vegan, I don't eat meat, fish or any animal-related produce,' Erika replied.

'Oh, I'm sorry, I…' Ryosuke said frowning a little.

'It's okay,' Erika said, 'they have plenty of things here that I can eat, besides, you didn't know.'

'I guess there are many things I don't know about you,' Ryosuke commented.

'Probably just as many as the things I don't know about you,' Erika replied, 'speaking of which…'

'I know,' he interrupted her taking a bite of one of his rolls of salmon, 'I owe you an explanation.'

'I…'

'No,' he stopped her again, 'I need to tell someone and, like you said, I listened to you last night so please hear me out.'

'Okay,' Erika said gently.

Taking a sip of his iced tea, Ryosuke put the glass down and then proceeded to explain to her all about Kaori, Rin and the whole mess which had culminated seven months ago with that very unwelcome kiss by the lake. Ryosuke tried to keep as many details out as he could but, in the end, Erika seemed to get a fairly good idea of what had happened.

'So,' she said, 'you don't really know what you feel for her.'

'That's not entirely accurate,' he replied, 'I just…'

'She makes you feel confused,' Erika supplied.

'It's not just confused,' he said, 'it's just that, I'm not even sure if I can explain this properly but I don't like the way she's pushing her own feelings on me, it makes me feel very uncomfortable and I definitely don't like that.'

'Nobody would like that,' Erika agreed.

'Also,' he continued, 'there's something about her that I've always found disconcerting.'

'What is it?' Erika asked.

'I don't even know,' he replied, 'I'm…I guess I haven't even stopped to analyse it.'

'Why not?'

'I don't know,' Ryosuke repeated.

'Are you afraid of what you might find out?' Erika asked again being as gentle as she could.

Ryosuke observed her for a bit then, he ate an extra piece of sushi to buy himself some time.

'Maybe,' he finally admitted.

'Look,' Erika said, 'I'm not going to tell you what to do or even suggest I know what you're going through because, let's be fair, I have no idea. That said, I think you're putting yourself through hell unnecessarily.'

'Why are you saying that?' Ryosuke asked looking a little surprised.

'Well,' she replied, 'there are a few scenarios you can find yourself in. As far as I know, the worst one would be that you figure out you're in love with Kaori-san…'

'I am not in love with her,' he interrupted her.

'Alright,' Erika said visibly humouring him, 'let's pretend you're not, for argument's sake.

'I am not in love with her,' he repeated firmly, 'there's no need to pretend.'

Erika looked at him for a bit then, she nodded and said:

'Okay, you're not in love with her but, clearly, she stirs something within you,' Ryosuke didn't say anything to that, 'and you need to figure out what it is or it'll end up driving the two of you to destruction.'

'What do you mean by that?' Ryosuke asked her.

'I'm no expert,' Erika said, 'but from what you said and what I've seen myself, I can pretty much guarantee you that Kaori-san is in love with you and unless you figure out what your own feelings are, she'll keep getting the wrong message from you and will keep hoping that something can happen between the two of you.'

'Nothing can happen between the two of us,' Ryosuke said.

'Nothing can happen or you don't want anything to happen?' Erika asked him.

'Isn't that the same thing?' Ryosuke asked back.

'Not quite,' Erika replied, 'if you think that nothing can happen is because you think that there are external factors which, if they were removed, would make it possible for you and Kaori-san to be together. If, on the other hand, you don't want for anything to happen, it's because the impossibility of it all comes from within yourself; does that make any sense to you?'

'Scarily enough, it does,' Ryosuke said.

'Which one is it?' Erika asked him.

'The second, definitely the second,' Ryosuke said.

'I guess we've established something important today,' Erika said lifting her own glass of iced tea.

'Here's to that,' Ryosuke said raising his own glass smiling back at her.

The two drank a large gulp of their drinks. He then got very serious again and said:

'Thank you for listening.'

'You're more than welcome,' she replied looking equally serious.

'As compensation,' he said, 'would you accompany me to the see the Andy Warhol exhibition?'

'The one at the Maebashi Cultural Centre?' she asked.

'Yes, have you already seen it?' he asked looking a little worried.

'Not yet,' Erika replied, 'but I've heard it got really good reviews.'

'We could go on Sunday morning,' Ryosuke suggested.

'Ten o'clock?' she asked.

'I can pick you up from your home at quarter to ten,' Ryosuke said.

'Okay,' she replied, she went to get a pen and said, 'let me draw you a map.'

'I don't need it,' Ryosuke stopped her, 'I remember the way.'

'You do?' she asked him looking a little freaked out.

'I have an absurdly good memory,' he explained, 'I only need to see or do something once to memorise it.'

'That's handy,' she commented.

'Not always,' he countered a little darkly.

Erika frowned too and said:

'No, I guess sometimes you wish you could forget about stuff, right?'

'Exactly,' Ryosuke said.

When an hour later he drove her back to the car park by his medical school, Ryosuke felt almost at peace with himself and, watching the tiny Cappuccino driving away from him, he realised that Erika was to be credited of that feat. He also decided that he was very happy the two of them would be seeing each other so soon for he genuinely enjoyed the future veterinarian's company. Checking his watch, he saw that he was over fifteen minutes late for his afternoon lecture.

'Oh well,' he said.

Getting into the FC, he turned the engine back on and, for the first time in his whole life, Ryosuke skipped school. Before he could change his mind, he found himself driving home where he promised he'd do some much needed thinking. Alas, when he arrived at the Takahashi residence's garage, he found his younger brother Keisuke obviously having some problem with his beloved Honda CBR 400.

'Aniki…'

'What's wrong with it?' Ryosuke asked climbing out of his car.

'I don't know,' Keisuke replied, 'what are you doing home?'

'I guess the same as you,' Ryosuke smirked.

'You're skipping school too?' Keisuke asked sounding incredulous.

'I think I am,' Ryosuke said.

'Oh gosh,' Keisuke said looking horrified, 'that's it…'

'That's what? Ryosuke asked looking amused.

'First you get yourself a girlfriend and now you start skipping school,' Keisuke said, 'the world's gonna end, I'm sure of it.'

'Very funny,' he said then, getting back on topic, he pointed at the CBR and asked, 'what's wrong with it?'

Keisuke seemed to hesitate for a moment then, he probably decided to be honest and confessed:

'It won't start anymore.'

'Is that the real reason why you didn't go anywhere last night?' he asked him.

'Yeah,' Keisuke admitted looking quite ashamed.

'I see,' Ryosuke said, 'what exactly happened?'

'What do you mean?' Keisuke asked.

'What happened to the motorbike before it failed to start?' Ryosuke rephrased his question.

'Er…I'm not sure,' Keisuke said, 'it's been playing up for a bit, you know? It would cut power every now and then but I always managed to get it restarted; in the past few days it's become more and more difficult to start it but yesterday it was just as dead as it is now.'

'I see,' Ryosuke repeated then, he said, 'can I take a look?'

'What?' Keisuke gasped, 'you…you know about motorbikes?'

'Only the theory,' Ryosuke admitted, 'but if you don't trust me you can take it to a proper mechanic.'

'I wish I could,' Keisuke said looking miserable.

'Why can't you?' Ryosuke asked.

'Because I've spent most of the money I had and I need to wait until we get our next allowance,' Keisuke said.

'Keisuke, we get a fair amount of money from our parents every month, what did you spend it on?' Ryosuke asked.

'Michiko just had her birthday,' he explained, 'and she wanted one of those Vuitton handbags.'

'You got her a Vuitton handbag for her birthday?' Ryosuke asked sounding a little scandalised.

'Yeah,' Keisuke said, 'that's what she wanted and…'

'Keisuke, she's what? Seventeen?'

'Sixteen,' Keisuke corrected.

'She's sixteen,' Ryosuke repeated, 'you shouldn't buy her such expensive presents.'

'But…'

'Keisuke,' Ryosuke interrupted him, 'she should be with you because of you, not because of your wallet.'

'She's not with me because of my wallet!' Keisuke protested.

'Let's hope she's not,' Ryosuke said icily.

'Look, I just wanted to buy her something nice and I knew she wanted that bag…'

'Alright,' Ryosuke stopped him clearly not interested in knowing more, 'I trust you know what you're doing, I always have.'

'Thank you,' Keisuke replied.

'Now, do you want me to take a look at it?' Ryosuke asked pointing at the motorbike.

'Sure,' Keisuke said, 'it can't get any worse than it already is.'

'Thanks for the vote of confidence,' Ryosuke said a little sarcastically.

'That's not what I…'

'It's okay,' he interrupted him with a small smile, 'let me just get changed and I'll see what I can do.'

'Do you even have an idea of what it might be?' Keisuke asked him.

'I think I do,' Ryosuke replied.

'Of course you do,' Keisuke said sounding just a little bit sceptical.

Ignoring that, Ryosuke rushed towards his room and there, he replaced the suit, shirt and tie he was wearing with something a lot sportier. He then made a quick phone call and, after that, went back to the garage to find his younger brother looking rather impatient.

'What took you so long?' he asked him.

Refusing to answer that, Ryosuke grabbed his personal toolbox which had considerably grown better assorted during the past year setting it by the CBR, he then donned a pair of gloves and, crouching next to it, he started checking the main mechanical components, starting by the NC23 engine, while Keisuke observed him looking a little concerned.

'What are you doing?' the kid asked him.

'I'm going to try doing an experiment,' Ryosuke said.

'Er…' Keisuke hesitated hiding his fear very badly, 'is that absolutely necessary?'

'Yes, it is,' Ryosuke replied firmly.

'Ah, okay,' Keisuke somehow managed to reply.

The seventeen year old gangster was forced to watch with mounting apprehension as his older brother took a thin, long hose from inside his toolbox and, after taking the measure right, he proceeded to cut it, connecting the deposit of fuel directly into the NC23, thus bypassing the fuel pump. Then, turning the fuel back on, he went to press the ignition. To Keisuke's astonishment, the motorbike's four stroke engine turned on without any problems.

'You fixed it!' he exclaimed sounding impressed, overjoyed and incredulous all at the same time.

'No, I didn't,' Ryosuke replied calmly while he turned both the engine and the fuel supply off.

'But…'

'I just figured out what was wrong with it,' Ryosuke told him getting back up and dusting his trousers a bit then, noticing his younger brother's confused look, he tried to explain, 'judging by what you told me earlier, I figured that the fuel pump started failing a while ago and, since the engine wasn't starting at all, I guessed the fuel pump was now dead. I've merely created a gravity feed that's now sending the fuel straight into the engine, which is why it's starting now.'

'So, it works now,' Keisuke said looking like he hadn't really understood any of it.

'No,' Ryosuke countered, 'this is just a temporary solution: your motorbike still needs a new fuel pump.'

'I can't afford to buy a new one,' Keisuke complained, 'besides, I would have to wait forever until…'

'You don't need to,' Ryosuke stopped him, 'do you remember my friend Matsumoto from Isesaki?'

'That mechanic you worked with a while ago?' Keisuke asked.

'I just called him,' Ryosuke said, 'and he told me they have the part you need and if we bring the motorbike in, you can have a new fuel pump installed by the end of the evening.'

'Who's going to pay for that?' Keisuke asked him.

'I will,' Ryosuke said.

'Aniki…'

'Consider it an early birthday present,' Ryosuke said.

'My birthday is in August,' Keisuke pointed out.

'Hence, early,' Ryosuke countered, 'come on now, we've got to go.'

'You're coming too?' Keisuke said.

'Of course,' Ryosuke replied, 'the reason why I called Matsumoto is because we're installing a new set of GAB suspensions on my FC but don't worry, we'll work on your CBR first. After all, replacing the fuel pump is a lot easier.'

An utterly speechless Keisuke was left to watch while his older brother tidied up his toolbox, putting it back inside the FC's trunk, after that, he went to climb into the Mazda, throwing him an amused glance as he did so.

'What are you waiting for?' Ryosuke asked him trying not to laugh.

'Yeah, I'm coming,' Keisuke chocked while he rushed to find his helmet.

'Hurry up, I don't have all day,' Ryosuke said.

'I'm coming, I'm coming,' Keisuke assured him while he stuffed his head into the helmet.

He then went to start the engine but seemed to hesitate.

'Turn the fuel on again before you press the ignition button,' Ryosuke told him from inside his car, 'after that you can ride it normally.'

'Okay,' Keisuke said.

Soon the Takahashi brothers drove out of the family's garage, with Ryosuke's FC driving ahead of Keisuke's CBR. While he rode the motorbike, the kid wondered in silence if there was something, anything, his older brother didn't know. Keisuke doubted it and, once again, he was in awe of the man driving the white Mazda.

Half an hour later, they drove into Mikami-san's automotive workshop and there, Keisuke saw a man in his mid-twenties dressed with a pair of dark red overalls together with another man around his age dressed with a smart suit. Keisuke felt the usual repulsion when seeing someone older wearing a tie and that made him put his defensive walls up. Stopping the NC23 engine, he waited until his older brother was out of the car.

'Hey,' the guy with the overalls said smiling at Ryosuke, 'is that him?' he added pointing at Keisuke.

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied, 'this is my younger brother Keisuke.'

'It's nice to meet you,' the mechanic said, 'my name is Matsumoto Shuichi.'

Keisuke removed his helmet and, getting off his CBR, he used his gangster-face trying to impress the guy.

'Yo!' he then said.

'Okay,' Shuichi said exchanging an amused glance with both Ryosuke as well as the suited up man.

'This is Fumihiro Hiroshi,' Ryosuke said, 'he's a sales representative for Mazdaspeed.'

'Yo!' Keisuke repeated almost glaring at the poor Hiroshi for no apparent reason.

'How old are you?' the man asked looking anything but scared.

'Is that important?' Keisuke countered using a cold tone of voice.

'Keisuke!' Ryosuke admonished.

'It's okay,' Hiroshi hurried to say, 'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound patronising. I just wanted to know if you're old enough to get your driving license for cars.'

'He's four months short of that,' Ryosuke replied, 'and if you're fishing for a new client…'

'Would I?' Hiroshi asked looking very innocent.

'Yes, you would,' both Ryosuke and Shuichi replied at the same time.

That made Keisuke grin against his own will but, he got serious once again when his older brother said:

'He's not too fond of cars anyway.'

'You're not?' Shuichi asked him sounding surprised.

'Do you have a problem with that?' Keisuke challenged him.

'Not really,' Shuichi said, 'it's just that your brother here is quite the car freak and…'

'Don't call me that,' Ryosuke told him off, 'I am not a car freak.'

'Of course you're not,' Shuichi snorted.

'Er…' Keisuke started.

'Oh, yes,' Shuichi exclaimed, 'excuse us, we got a little sidetracked. Just to confirm, that's a Tri-Arm, isn't it?'

'A what?' Keisuke asked.

'It is,' Ryosuke replied then, to his younger brother, he shook his head in slight disappointment and said, 'he's talking about your motorbike's engine. The CBR can use two types of engines: the NC23 also called Tri-Arm and the NC29 called the Gull-Arm. You should at least know that much about the motorbike you love so much.'

Keisuke looked suitably ashamed.

'Stop bullying the poor kid,' Hiroshi said passing an arm around Keisuke's shoulders; startling him in the process, 'just because you and Matsumoto are walking automotive engineering encyclopaedias…'

'Someone wants to drink oil tonight,' Shuichi said to Ryosuke.

'Let's just get to work,' the future doctor said looking like he was trying not to smile.

'Yes, boss,' Shuichi replied.

Keisuke was too stunned by it all to even think of shaking Hiroshi's arm off. There, in front of him, he had someone who looked like his older brother but that didn't behave or sound anything like him. The Ryosuke he knew would not look so relaxed while he and Shuichi pushed the motorbike inside the workshop. He would not laugh at the older mechanic when he dropped one of his tools onto his own foot and would definitely not get his hands dirty while disassembling part of the NC23 engine so that he could install a brand new fuel pump.

'Are you okay?' he somehow heard Hiroshi asking him finally taking his arm off from Keisuke's shoulder.

'What?'

'You're looking like you're in shock,' Hiroshi explained.

'Is just that…'

'I take you're not used to seeing your older brother like that, are you?'

'No,' Keisuke admitted.

'It took me a while to get used to it too,' Hiroshi said, 'when I first met him, I thought he was nothing but some spoilt little brat who wanted to play being mechanic for a while but, after seeing how hard he always works at anything he does he quickly got my full respect.'

'That does sound like him,' Keisuke said feeling a little relieved.

'What about you?' Hiroshi asked.

'What about me?' Keisuke countered.

'What are you aiming for?' Hiroshi asked him.

Keisuke looked startled once again then, doing his best to recover, he said:

'What do I know? I'm only seventeen.'

'That's right,' Hiroshi said laughing softly, 'excuse me for the stupid question.'

Keisuke didn't know what to reply to that but was saved when his older brother called him.

'It's fixed now,' Ryosuke told him, 'just in case, take it around the block and come back here.'

'Alright,' Keisuke said.

An instant later, the three older men watched as the kid got onto his motorbike and, donning his helmet once again, he took off going a little faster than it was necessary, as if he couldn't wait to get away from the place. Only once he was gone, Ryosuke looked at his two friends and looking as serious as usual, he said:

'I'm sorry about Keisuke, he's a bit…'

'He's a cool kid,' Shuichi interrupted him.

'I see a lot of potential in him,' Hiroshi added looking equally serious.

'You do?' Ryosuke asked him sounding as neutral as possible.

'Yes,' Hiroshi said, 'I think he just needs to be pointed in the right direction.'

'I'm very impressed,' Ryosuke told him, 'I thought I was the only one who had him figured out.'

'I'm a sales man,' Hiroshi replied, 'it is my job to figure people out as quickly as possible.'

'He's back,' Shuichi then said.

They saw the black and red CBR entering the workshop with Keisuke stopping it right next to the three men.

'How is it?' Ryosuke asked him once the engine was turned off.

'It's perfect!' the kid shouted, his voice muffled by the integral helmet.

'I'm glad to hear that,' Shuichi said.

'Er…' Keisuke hesitated then, bowing his head a little, he said as fast as he could, 'thanks a lot.'

'You're welcome,' Shuichi replied.

'To you too, Aniki,' Keisuke added, 'thanks for this, I…'

'Don't mention it,' Ryosuke interrupted knowing that his younger brother wasn't good at this kind of things.

'I'll take care of it,' the kid promised.

'If you have any problems,' Shuichi said, 'feel free to come back in here any time you want, okay?'

'Sure,' Keisuke replied then, turning the engine back on, he added, 'I'm off now.'

'Take care,' Ryosuke advised him.

'I always do,' Keisuke replied, 'I'll see you later.'

An instant later, he was gone leaving Ryosuke, Hiroshi and Shuichi watching the back of the CBR as it disappeared in the distance. Then Ryosuke remembered the other reason why he was there.

'So,' he said, 'where are those new suspensions I ordered?'

'I thought you'd never ask,' Shuichi said looking suddenly very pleased.

Much later that evening, Ryosuke took his FC up Mt Akagi's pass feeling exhilarated at the sheer improvement the new GAB suspensions had provided to the car's handling. He and Shuichi had set them up to work well on the mountain passes and as he took his Mazda around the first corner, he could almost feel the AVCS system at work, automatically reducing or increasing the damping forces matching them to his driving style.

Thanks to the new suspensions, Ryosuke found that he could now keep his foot on the throttle for longer and thus his exit speed was so much faster that within just a couple of hours, he had set himself a brand new uphill record. Ryosuke was almost sorry when he saw the reserve light coming on, forcing him to abort another attempt to try and make it to the summit in an even shorter period of time.

At any rate, he was fairly sure no one could possibly beat the time he'd set that night.

On Saturday morning, with less than two hours of sleep in his biological clock, Ryosuke went to the library to try and do some research for a chemistry paper he was supposed to hand in on Monday. He barely managed to finish collecting all the information he needed when he realised he was about to fall asleep onto the long wooden table.

'It's useless,' he muttered to himself.

Gathering his books in haste, he grabbed his bag and just as he walked into the students' car park, he found Kaori standing there obviously waiting for someone but, to Ryosuke's relief, it didn't seem like it was him.

'Hi,' she said looking genuinely surprised to see him there.

'Hello,' he forced himself to say.

'Are you going home for the day?' she asked him conversationally.

'Yes,' Ryosuke said then, telling himself off, he forced himself to calm down, 'what about you?' he asked her.

'I'm waiting for Hojo-san,' she replied, 'we're going to go for lunch with his family.'

'That's good,' Ryosuke said.

'I guess,' Kaori replied not sounding too convinced, 'so,' she then said, 'you have a girlfriend now.'

The question took him by surprise but, thankfully, even his sleepy brain had the answer ready, even if it was a lie:

'That's right.'

'I see,' she said looking just a little sad.

'Kaori-san…'

'If she makes you happy then I'll be happy too,' Kaori said.

'Kaori-san…'

Ryosuke never finished the sentence because, right at that moment, he saw Rin's silver GA61 rushing into the car park. The man then stopped the car and without turning the engine off, he climbed out of it smiling.

'Hey!' he exclaimed sounding very happy, 'I'm glad to find you two together,' Ryosuke decided to remain silent and was glad to see that Kaori kept her mouth shut too, 'I needed to tell you something,' an oblivious Rin continued glancing at Ryosuke, 'so finding you here kind of saves me the trouble of calling you.'

'What did you want to tell me?' Ryosuke asked him keeping a studied casual tone of voice.

'Junichi and I have a surprise for you,' Rin replied looking very pleased.

'What is it?' Ryosuke tried again.

'What would you say if I told you that Tomizawa has agreed to race you in Mt Usui?'

_To be continued…_


	16. Chapter Fifteen

A/N: It's taken me exactly nine months to update this story so I don't know if any of my regular readers will still be out there. If they are, I'm sorry for making you wait for so long. You all know that I was waiting myself for Shigeno-sensei to give us more info on the background story between Ryosuke and Rin but, alas, it seems that he's chosen to forget about that, at least for now. Realising that I simply could not leave this story unfinished forever, I'm going to take a gamble and try to continue along the storyline I devised when I planned the whole thing. Hopefully it will still make sense within the canon.

This all said, thanks a lot for reading! ^_^

**Planetarium**

_Chapter Fifteen_

The lack of sleep combined with the surprise at hearing such spectacularly good news delayed Ryosuke's response so much that Rin frowned a bit and, sounding slightly disappointed, he said:

'I thought you'd be pleased…'

That made Ryosuke react and, shaking his head once, he hurried to speak.

'It's great news, it really is.'

'Are you sure?' Rin asked, 'you can decline the challenge if you…'

'No,' Ryosuke interrupted him, 'I want to race Tomizawa-san, it's just…'

'I get it,' Rin said, 'racing him in Usui is a daunting task and it's only natural that you'd be afraid.'

'I'm not afraid,' Ryosuke retorted trying not to sound too defensive, 'it's just that…'

'He was just surprised,' Kaori suddenly intervened, 'also, he looks like he hasn't been sleeping much.'

As usual, Ryosuke was taken aback by how easily Kaori was able to read him; he also felt grateful that, once again, Rin seemed to be completely unaware of the abnormal amount of attention his fiancée paid to Ryosuke's wellbeing.

'How much did you sleep last night?' the older man asked him, now looking a little concerned.

'Not very much,' Ryosuke replied, refusing to be too specific.

'That's unfortunate,' Rin said pensively.

'I'm fine,' Ryosuke reassured him.

'No, you're not,' Rin countered, 'you'll need to get some sleep if you're to be ready for tonight.'

'Wait,' Ryosuke said, 'the race is tonight?'

'Of course,' Rin replied, 'I wanted to be there and tonight it's the last evening I'll have free for quite some time.'

'I see,' Ryosuke muttered.

'I'm aware it's a little too soon but,' Rin said, 'I figured you wouldn't need any extra practice in Usui and, judging on looks alone, I'd say you won't need to work on your car either.'

'I don't,' Ryosuke confirmed, 'and don't worry, I was heading home now to get some rest.'

'I'm glad to hear that,' Rin said, 'the race is at ten but I was thinking of meeting up a bit earlier than that.'

'We can meet near the base at around nine,' Ryosuke suggested.

'That sounds like a plan,' Rin replied offering him a smile, 'now, you better go home and get as much sleep as you can, Tomizawa's not an easy opponent and, remember that you two'll be racing at his home course.'

'I know,' Ryosuke said, 'before I go, can I ask you something?'

'Sure,' Rin nodded.

'Did Tomizawa issue the challenge himself?' he dared to ask.

'No,' Rin replied, 'I asked him to race you.'

'Why would you do that?' Ryosuke said, trying to keep a tone of voice as neutral as possible.

'Let's say it's all part of a plan,' Rin said all-too-vaguely.

'What plan?' Ryosuke insisted.

'Don't worry about it now,' Rin replied, 'I'll explain everything to you in due time. Now, go home, get some sleep and, I'll see you at the car park by the Yokokawa train station at nine o'clock sharp.'

Ryosuke felt like whenever he was being commanded by his own father and, needless to say, he didn't like the sensation one bit. He considered retorting in some way when he noticed Kaori's expression; the girl seemed to be asking him to resign himself and accept whatever order Rin gave him. Seeing her so defeated made him feel a pang of frustration and, some other emotion he didn't want to explore too deeply.

'Hey, are you still with us?' Rin asked taking Ryosuke out of his reverie.

'Yes, sorry,' he replied, 'I…'

'Go home,' Rin repeated this time offering him a small smile, 'you really need to rest.'

'Yes, I do,' Ryosuke replied, 'I'll see you at nine.'

Without waiting for his senpai's answer, Ryosuke opened the FC's door and, climbing into it, he decided to shut down his brain, leaving active only the strictly necessary functions for him to drive his car back home. He reached the Takahashi residence a few minutes later and, leaving the car safely parked inside the garage, he rushed to his bedroom, without even bothering to check whether Keisuke was home or not.

He slept for most of the day and he only woke up when the alarm he had somehow managed to set before crashing onto his bed went off at exactly seven o'clock in the evening. After taking a quick shower and donning a pair of white trousers and a blue shirt, he joined his mother in the dining room, finally noticing that not only Keisuke was nowhere to be seen but, Doctor Takahashi had not returned from work yet.

'Hello, son,' Kinue said looking very happy to see him, 'I was preparing myself to dine alone.'

'Sorry,' Ryosuke replied feeling a little bit guilty, 'I was…' he was going to say tired then, knowing that his mother would probably make a fuss about his odd sleeping habits, he corrected himself and said, '…busy.'

'Of course,' the woman said adjusting a hair that had dared escape from the French knot she favoured.

'I'll be going out tonight,' he said, 'I trust that's not inconvenient for you.'

'It isn't,' Kinue replied smiling at him, 'but thank you for your consideration.'

The housemaid's arrival with their dinner interrupted anything he might have wanted to say and, as it was their custom whenever they were on their own, Ryosuke and his mother started eating in silence. Only then, while enjoying one of his favourite Japanese dishes, he allowed himself to think about the upcoming race.

Replaying his conversation with Rin, he realised that a not so small detail had escaped his attention: if he remembered correctly, the last time Ryosuke had spoken to Tomizawa Shoya, a little under a year before, the Usui racer had made it abundantly clear that he hated Rin's racing style as much as he probably despised Rin himself. This alone begged the question why Shoya would agree to do anything Rin asked of him. Ryosuke's keen perception told him that there was an awful lot that Rin needed to explain.

Eager to leave the house as soon as possible, he was very happy when he saw his mother setting her desert spoon down onto her china plate and, as soon as the maid removed the crockery, he declined his mother's offer to have some tea with her and, instead, he asked for her permission to get up from the table.

'Of course,' she said, 'thank you for keeping me company.'

Ryosuke just nodded once, he then said:

'I'm leaving now, have a pleasant evening, Mother.'

'I will,' Kinue reassured him, 'please don't drive that car of yours too fast.'

Ryosuke had to repress a smirk and, instead, he just nodded again, leaving without making any promises he knew he could not keep. Less than five minutes later, he was back behind the steering wheel of his Mazda, driving out of Takasaki towards the junction with the National Route 18 that would take him all the way to the border between the prefectures of Gunma and Nagano. Less than forty minutes later, he exited the highway, stopping at the car park just outside the Yokokawa train station where he saw Rin's silver GA61.

'Hello there,' the senpai greeted him as soon as Ryosuke got out of the FC.

'Good evening,' Ryosuke replied.

'Did you get any sleep?' Rin asked him.

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied then, before the older man had the time to speak again and keeping an even tone of voice, he said, 'alright, now that we are on our own, I'd like to know more about that plan of yours.'

Rin smiled at him; he then shook his head once and said:

'It's too soon for that.'

'Senpai…'

'Don't worry,' Rin interrupted him, 'I will tell you all about it, I promise.'

'Hojo-senpai,' Ryosuke tried again, 'I just…I find it weird that Tomizawa-san would agree to race me just because you're asking him to.'

'Why is that?' Rin asked him.

'Well…' Ryosuke hesitated, 'Tomizawa-san…he's…'

'Not my biggest fan, I know,' Rin said with a smirk, 'Ryosuke, you really should give yourself more credit.'

'What do you mean?' Ryosuke asked.

'Tomizawa's been wanting to race you for quite some time,' Rin suddenly announced.

'Really?' Ryosuke asked.

'Of course,' Rin said.

'But…I didn't know anything about it,' Ryosuke almost complained.

'Of course you didn't,' Rin said, 'because I told everyone to wait until you'd be ready.'

'Why would you do that?' Ryosuke asked with an unmistakable accusative tone of voice.

'Because you weren't ready to properly enter the street racing scene,' Rin said sounding unnervingly calm.

'Hojo-senpai!'

'Come on, we should get going…'

'Wait!' Ryosuke exclaimed, 'you…'

'Ryosuke,' Rin stopped him, 'you saw it yourself, during our race: street racing is completely different to the conventional one, anything can happen and very often things go awry. You needed to be prepared to handle the dangers of street racing and you know that up to a couple of weeks ago, you were nowhere near ready.'

'What changed?' Ryosuke asked, forcing himself to calm down.

'You raced me,' Rin replied without a trace of arrogance in his voice, 'and you did rather well.'

'I lost the race,' Ryosuke reminded him a little bitterly.

'We've had this conversation before,' Rin countered, 'you didn't really lose the race, you were unlucky.'

'It's the same thing,' Ryosuke insisted.

'At any rate,' Rin said, 'I think you're ready now and Tomizawa was only too happy to hear that you were accepting challenges. He even told me that he would spread the word to other racers but I told him that it would not be a good idea.'

'Why not?' Ryosuke asked.

'Because that would hinder with my plan,' Rin answered.

'That again,' Ryosuke said, 'I…'

'All in due time,' Rin interrupted, making Ryosuke feel increasingly frustrated, 'before that, there's one piece of advice I want to give to you, I hope you'll listen to me this time.'

'What is it?' Ryosuke asked, trying to sound reasonably curious.

'You know this pass is Tomizawa's home course,' Rin said.

'I know,' Ryosuke confirmed.

'Well,' Rin continued, 'since this is his home course, he's agreed to have this race being an uphill one.'

'We're going to race uphill?' Ryosuke asked.

'Yes,' Rin replied, 'racing downhill in here, as you know very well, it's very dangerous at best. If you two raced downhill, Tomizawa's experience would prove too much of a handicap for you. He agreed that it would level things out a bit if you two raced uphill, also, if you two race uphill there's less chance you might drive yourself off course and down the cliff.'

Ryosuke was so shocked by his senpai's blatant lack of trust in him that he couldn't even retort appropriately.

'At any rate,' Rin continued, 'it's very important that you don't let Tomizawa take the lead at the start of the race, if that happens, you won't be able to overtake him anywhere, especially not on the C-121 corner.'

'Why not?' Ryosuke finally managed to ask.

'Because that's the most dangerous corner of them all and Tomizawa's sheer mastery when it comes to tackling it would make it all but impossible for you to overtake him there. Also, you've never raced uphill here so you don't know the correct exit point. For this reason, it's best if you adopt a defensive strategy: stay ahead of him and do your best to block his attacks all the way to the summit. If you do that, you will have a reasonably strong chance to win this race.'

Ryosuke remained silent for a few moments then, realising that, even if they were very hurtful to his pride, Rin's words made a lot of sense and, all things considered, this tactic sounded like the best possible plan.

'Alright,' he finally said, 'I'll do my best.'

'I know you will,' Rin confirmed, offering him another smile, 'now, we really should go, it's bad manners to show up late at a challenge.'

'It is,' Ryosuke agreed. He was going to get back in his car when he finally noticed that Junichi wasn't there, 'Hojo-senpai, where's Kuroki-san?'

For some reason, Rin let out a soft chuckle and said:

'He's baby-sitting Tsuyoshi for me tonight.'

'Senpai?' a confused Ryosuke asked.

'Tsuyoshi insisted he wanted to travel to Shizuoka tonight, to scout some racers he's heard of, I could not go with him so Junichi went instead. Mind you, Junichi was very upset that he would miss your race but, I really didn't feel comfortable having Tsuyoshi travelling all the way to Shizuoka on his own.'

'I understand that,' Ryosuke said.

Rin just nodded then, without saying anything else, he walked to his Toyota and, climbing into it, he waited until Ryosuke did the same. Soon enough, both cars were back on the road driving the short distance which separated the Yokokawa train station from the base of the infamous Mt Usui's pass.

In those few minutes and in spite of his best efforts to focus on the race ahead, Ryosuke's mind was busy processing everything Rin had revealed to him. Ryosuke still felt uneasy knowing that Rin had some sort of hidden agenda that it obviously involved him but that emotion wasn't anywhere near as powerful as how angry it made Ryosuke knowing that Rin had been actively preventing him from getting any challenges from other street racers. No matter how Rin tried to sell him the idea that he'd done it all for Ryosuke's own good; he still felt really upset that, once again, someone else was deciding everything for him.

Ryosuke made up his mind as he and Rin reached the starting point of the race: whatever his senpai's big plan was and how he was involved in it, he would no longer accept Rin's interference. From now on, Ryosuke would make sure everyone knew he was in charge of himself and took no orders from anyone.

With that newfound resolution, he parked the car right next to the lime green 1984 S12 Gazelle belonging to Tomizawa Shoya. The man himself was standing besides it, talking to a couple of his team mates while the usual crowd just gaped at him in a state of semi-adoration. Seeing the FC and the GA61 made him stop his chat and, walking towards the Mazda, he waited until Ryosuke was out of his car to extend his hand to him.

'Hi, so glad you could make it, given the short notice.'

'It's okay,' Ryosuke said briefly shaking Shoya's hand, 'I'm happy you accepted to race me.'

'Well, I would have raced you much earlier, but…' Shoya said then, he gave a meaningful look at Rin.

'About that,' Ryosuke replied, interrupting anything his senpai might have said, 'I'm happy to race anyone who wants to spare me some of their time.'

'Ryosuke…' Rin started.

'Senpai,' Ryosuke said, 'like you just pointed out to me, I'm still very inexperienced in terms of street racing and I think that I want to correct that so, if you don't mind, I'd like to race as many people as possible.'

'Well said, kiddo,' a smiling Shoya said reaching up to pat him on his shoulder, he then stopped smiling and, almost glaring at Rin, he added 'give it up Hojo, Takahashi-kun isn't your toy.'

'I know he's not,' the future doctor said angrily, 'I…'

'Let's just get things started,' Ryosuke interrupted him.

'Yes, let's do that,' Shoya agreed, a grin returning to his face.

'Ryosuke…'

'It'll be fine,' Ryosuke interrupted Rin once again, 'I'll do my best to follow your advice.'

'I hope so,' Rin said still looking slightly disgruntled, 'for your own sake.'

Ryosuke choose to ignore the last four words and, instead, he climbed back into his car, and while Shoya issued the orders to get things ready for the race, Ryosuke took the chance to, at long last, concentrate on the challenge ahead by following his pre-race ritual of double-checking everything inside his car: from the gauges' levels to the tightness of his seatbelt, including re-positioning the rear view mirrors. He left nothing unchecked and, by the time Shoya started his car, Ryosuke knew that he was in full battle mode.

A couple of minutes before ten o'clock, both the lime green Nissan and the white Mazda were lined up side by side, the crowd was gathered along behind the guardrails at each side of the road and the atmosphere was loaded with an unbelievable amount of tension that made Ryosuke decide that this, and not his race against Rin two weeks prior, was his first real street battle and he would be damned if he lost it!

Adjusting his grip on both the steering wheel and the shifter, Ryosuke spared just a moment to see Rin standing right in front of the two cars. For some reason, the older man had appointed himself as the countdown man, probably so that he could see it for himself that Ryosuke would follow his advice and take the lead at the start of the race, Ryosuke mused finding Rin's lack of trust more than a tad annoying.

Forgetting about that, he waited until his senpai raised his right fist up in the air and started shouting:

'FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE: GO!'

The instant Rin lowered his arm, both cars darted past him. Ryosuke somehow managed to keep up with the Nissan while both cars cruised up the short but wide straight at the bottom of the pass but, right as they approached the first corner of the course, a sharp left hander, Ryosuke was forced to watch as Shoya pushed his S12 ahead of the FC passing Ryosuke with absurd ease and taking the Gazelle around the corner with such a high level of control that it looked like the car was travelling on rails.

'Damn it,' Ryosuke complained out loud.

Trying to forget about the fact that Rin had probably seen the whole thing, Ryosuke did his best to clear the left hander as quickly as possible. He did it rather well but he was not fast enough: the lime green Nissan was already entering the following corner, a right-hander, and it took everything the FC had for Ryosuke to not lose sight of the S12. Struggling to tackle the quick succession of corners while sticking as close to Shoya's car as possible, Ryosuke remembered what Keita had told him regarding the S12's driver.

A monster, the older racer had called him.

Ryosuke found he could not agree more with that judgement: Shoya governed his car seamlessly and the sheer power coming from the FJ24 Group B engine took care of the rest. Ryosuke knew that the S12 engine was tuned to give at least fifty horse power more than the FC's 13B and he felt forever grateful that in the last tuning session, they had decided to increase the output to three hundred and forty horse power.

He had known that he would be the underdog, no matter how he looked at it but, to Ryosuke, it still was a very unpleasant surprise to find himself so badly overpowered, and he didn't dare to think of what Rin would tell him if he were to get so soundly beaten by Shoya. He simply didn't think he would be able to face his senpai if that happened, not after the open defiance he'd shown to Rin before the start of the race.

With a pang, Ryosuke realised that the gap between his Mazda and the Nissan had increased so much that he could no longer see the Gazelle. That made him swear at his own stupidity and, making a huge effort, he decided to remove Rin from his thoughts altogether for the guy was proving to be too much of a distraction.

Clearing his mind, he forced himself to remember the reason why he had started racing in the first place: it wasn't to impress the galleries nor as an act of defiance towards his father or Rin or anybody else. The only reason he raced was to feel the sense of freedom he so severely lacked in the rest of his life and nothing, and no one would rob him of that. Behind the steering wheel he alone was in command, no matter what.

Feeling much better, he started clearing corner after corner, noticing that his driving was back to its usual sharpness. He also noticed that the blaring sound coming from the FJ24 was getting closer and, very soon, he saw the red-ish glow coming from the S12's taillights. A couple of turns after that, he finally caught up with the Nissan and, taking a moment to gather his bearings, Ryosuke noticed that they were approaching the infamous C-121.

Unbeknownst to him, a smirk started forming on his lips and, even before he had consciously decided to do it, his body started readying itself for the attack. Both Nissan and Mazda left behind yet another quick succession of corners, with the FC almost permanently stuck to the S12's rear bumper. As the C-121 appeared right before them, Ryosuke lifted his foot only fractionally from the accelerator as to buy himself the space he needed to overtake Shoya's car. He waited until they reached the apex of the super-wide corner and, launched by the inertia, Ryosuke cut to the inside of the corner, effectively forcing Shoya to open up his own racing line.

Ryosuke thought that he had done it when, all of a sudden, his opponent pulled a move out of the blue. With mounting alarm, Ryosuke saw that he was being forced towards the very solid looking wall at his right. He only had an instant to decide what to do: he either stayed on course and hope for the best or, more reasonably, slow down and let the S12 stay ahead of the FC.

Swallowing hard, Ryosuke opted for the first, more dangerous option and, without any hesitation he floored the accelerator, fighting the urge to close his eyes. He knew that both the wall and Shoya's Nissan had to be less than a couple of centimetres away from his beloved FC and as both Nissan and Mazda exited the C-121, perfectly levelled, he knew that it would only take a slight miscalculation to end up involved in a nasty crash.

'Stay calm,' Ryosuke ordered, speaking to both himself as well as his FC.

He dared to look ahead at the short straight which followed the super wide corner and to his immense relief, he saw that the following corner was a right-hander. If he got to it a bit before Shoya did, he would take the more favourable inside line there too and, with a bit of luck, he would exit it way ahead of the Nissan.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, he noticed that the S12 was beginning to get ahead once again and, even before he could consider how to increase the FC's speed, he saw Shoya's Nissan first driving past him then closing right in front of the Mazda, blocking it all the way to the right-hander. Feeling an almost overwhelming frustration, Ryosuke fought to remain calm.

He knew that they were just about half way through the course and that, at this point, the gradient would increase and the road would get steeper. That would probably make it even harder for Ryosuke to overtake the Nissan but, at the same time, it would also make it difficult for the Shoya to keep his fast pace up.

For this reason, Ryosuke decided to adopt a very aggressive strategy, one in which he would keep on pressing Shoya. Ryosuke hoped that this would push Shoya into making a mistake and, in the mean time, he would use the time to try and assess Shoya's driving style and, with some luck, find some weakness within it.

Sadly, none of the two happened.

Ryosuke was beyond impressed by the perfection displayed by Shoya's driving, which came from both his extensive knowledge of the course as well as his extreme familiarity with his machine. From his evolving theory, Ryosuke knew that Shoya had three of the four elements which made it possible for a racer to win a race in his favour but, somehow, Ryosuke chose to believe that while he could not change the fact that Shoya was driving on his home course a car he'd driven for a very long time, which was vastly more powerful than the FC, there was one thing he could change or, at the very least, use it in his own favour.

Gambling it all on a hunch, Ryosuke waited until both cars approached the top of the pass still pretty much glued to each other. There only were a handful of corners and Ryosuke barely noticed that the galleries were once again full of people, ready to watch the moment when their local idol would defeat Ryosuke, thus claiming his umpteenth victory.

Taking a deep breath, Ryosuke cleared a left-hander, then another one and, just as they closed up on the last right-hand corner of the pass, he made his move: instead of going inside as he'd done in the previous times he'd attacked, Ryosuke moved outwards and, pushing his car along the guardrail, he made every single one of the 13B's horse power to give him all they got, even if that wrecked the poor engine.

He was so focused on clearing the corner ahead of the S12 that he even stopped paying attention to the Nissan. He concentrated all of his mental energy on getting his car out of the tight right hand turn and into the short straight with led to the end of the pass, he then continued pushing it until he literally run out of road. Only then he stopped the car realising that he simply had no idea who had crossed the finish line first.

Climbing out of his car, he got a hint of what had happened when he saw the reaction of the people from the galleries or, rather, the lack of thereof. In fact, glancing around himself, he noticed that everyone seemed to be speechless and the almost surreal silence was only broken by the sound of the two still running engines. He was about to look at Shoya when, half-hidden by the crowd, he noticed a young and beautiful long haired girl staring at him in awe and, for a couple of interminably long seconds, he thought that it was Kaori. Only when he looked at her a little better he saw that the girl was much too young to be his senpai's fiancée. Because of this, he stopped looking at her, focusing his gaze on his opponent.

'Well, well,' Shoya said looking like he was trying to be angry but could not quite manage it, 'I have to say that I'm not entirely surprised by this result.'

'Tomizawa-san...'

'You know,' the older racer continued, 'it's probably a freak coincidence but, today, it's been seven years since the last time someone defeated me on my own home course.'

'Er…'

'I knew that it was just a matter of time since it would happen again,' Shoya interrupted him, 'even more since the guy who did it was the one who brought you here in the first place.'

'Hojo-senpai?' Ryosuke asked.

'He wishes,' Shoya laughed dryly, 'no, it was Nishihara Keita, back when he was still flying solo.'

'I see,' Ryosuke said.

The older but shorter man walked closer to Ryosuke and, lowering his tone of voice, he said:

'I would make you the same offer I did to him that day but something tells me that you won't want to join my team either,' he paused briefly but, before Ryosuke had the time to speak, he added, 'so, I'll only give you one piece of advice, if you're willing to listen to me.'

'Of course I am,' Ryosuke replied.

'Well,' Shoya said, 'stay away from Hojo. He's not the sort of person you want to be involved with.'

'Tomizawa-san…'

'I know he's your senpai and you need to respect him for that but the way he always bosses people around is not good, especially in the street racing scene. We should all be free to do whatever we want, after all, if we wanted rules we would go to a proper racing track, wouldn't we?'

'Yes, we would,' Ryosuke agreed.

'I'm glad you see things my way,' Shoya said, 'now I should go and calm everyone down, fear not,' he hurried to add seeing Ryosuke's worried frown, 'they won't be angry at you for beating me: my people know me better than that.'

'What do you mean?' Ryosuke could not help but to ask.

'Well,' Shoya explained, 'I've been looking forward to racing someone who could beat me here, you see, winning all the time can get pretty boring. I daresay you'll soon find out how true that is.'

With that and without giving him the time to reply, Shoya walked away from him, leaving Ryosuke with no option but to climb back into his car so that he could drive out of the tiny parking area. He then drove down the Usui pass and, while he did so, it finally hit him: he had just won his first official street race. His first win, he thought feeling a joy he had never experienced before, the first of many, he allowed himself to hope.

_To be continued…_


	17. Chapter Sixteen

A/N: Thanks a bunch to everyone for the support, I'll never cease to be amazed by your reviews. Also, I'm glad to see that the oldies are still there, along with some new faces. I'll work hard to finish the story, I promise! Just so you know, this is the fourth version of the chapter I had planned to start a new arc of this story of mine. Hopefully you'll like it since it's taken me forever to get it right! Now, without further ado, here's the new chapter: happy reading!

**Planetarium**

_Chapter Sixteen_

A few weeks after his maiden victory at Mt Usui, it was a warm-ish Friday evening of mid-may and Ryosuke and Erika were enjoying what seemed to have become one of their favourite hobbies: watching old movies at a tiny little cinema the two had found in the middle of Takasaki.

Right after the end of the film, they walked back to the FC for their usual post-movie chat and, while she fastened her seatbelt, Erika said:

'Kurosawa really was a genius. One can easily tell how much thought he put in the shooting of every scene.'

'You're absolutely right,' Ryosuke agreed turning the car's engine on, 'however, correct me if I'm mistaken but, didn't they use the wrong breed for the horses?'

'Wow,' Erika gasped, 'I'm impressed you noticed that! And you're right: the movie is supposed to be set in feudal Japan so they shouldn't have used the Arabian breed since it's autochthonous from the Saudi Arabic peninsula.'

'They could have used the Yonaguni breed, couldn't they?' Ryosuke asked while he starred driving towards the main road back to Maebashi.

'That's right,' Erika confirmed, 'the Arabian breed isn't uncommon in present day Japan, but it would have been pretty much impossible to find an exemplar in the Middle Ages. The Yonaguni, on the other hand, was fairly spread, especially in the southwest islands of Japan, where the breed originally comes from.'

'Asides from that little nit-pick,' Ryosuke concluded, 'the rest of the production was most impressive.'

'Not as much as you are,' Erika said, sounding almost as if she hadn't intended to say it out loud, 'I mean,' she hurried to add, 'I know I talk a lot about horses but I didn't think you would remember everything I told you about them, let alone do your own research.'

Ryosuke felt a little embarrassed but, trying to keep his cool, he shrugged his shoulders and said:

'It's nothing special; I just like gathering information about whatever I find interesting, besides, it's only fair that I learn as much as possible about horses, otherwise our conversations about them risk being a little one-sided, don't you think?'

'I guess so,' Erika accepted, 'but that means that I'll have to start learning about cars too.'

'You don't have to,' Ryosuke countered, 'unless you find them interesting, I would not force you to read up on something that will bore you. Remember what I told you about…'

'I know, I know,' Erika interrupted him with a soft smile curving up her lips, 'the number one rule of our friendship,' she recited, 'it's not to force ourselves to be anything but who we are.'

'Exactly,' Ryosuke nodded approvingly.

Their chat continued all the way to the front door of the Irie residence where, as usual, Ryosuke stopped the FC so that they could finish their conversation before bidding each other good night. Just as Erika was about to grab the handle of the passenger's side door, Ryosuke stopped her.

'Wait,' he said, 'I forgot to ask you something, are you free next Sunday?'

Even in the semi-darkness inside the car, he could see her frowning a little while she probably went through her agenda then, something bizarre happened and she looked positively shocked.

'What's wrong?' Ryosuke asked her sounding worried.

'Oh…nothing…I…'

'Erika,' he insisted.

'It's just that…' she started then, she seemed to change her mind and said, 'forget it, it's something stupid, what's up on Sunday? Is there an event you want to attend?'

'In a way,' Ryosuke replied, 'it's my 20th birthday party.'

This time he could not ignore Erika's reaction to his announcement. For some reason, instead of looking reasonably pleased to be invited to his birthday party, Erika seemed horrified about it. Ryosuke had to force himself not to take it personal and, instead, he did his best to wait until she looked up at him still looking pretty freaked out and, with a tiny voice, she said:

'I just can't believe it.'

'What can you not believe?' Ryosuke asked her patiently.

'Your birthday is on May 23rd,' she half-whispered and, before he could prompt her for more information, she added, 'it's the same day as Kazuma-kun's.'

'Ah, I see,' Ryosuke replied feeling that his comment was a little unnecessary.

'I'm sorry,' she said, finally regaining a bit of her usual composure, 'I…just…I freaked out a little.'

'It's okay,' Ryosuke replied, 'I can understand how this could startle you.'

'You know,' she said, now sounding a little upset, 'you'd think I would stop feeling this way every time there's something even remotely connected to Kazuma-kun. I just wish that…'

'You need time,' Ryosuke interrupted her gently, 'love isn't like a switch one can just turn off.'

'I know,' Erika said, 'it's just…' she started then, she eyed him tilting her head a bit and added, 'if I didn't know better, I'd say that you're speaking from first-hand experience.'

'Erika-san,' he admonished her, 'I think you're being cheeky.'

'I think so too,' she admitted, 'but you're right, as usual. I just really wish I will someday forget about Kazuma-kun. It's just so hard though,' she complained, 'gosh, even his name makes it hard!'

'What do you mean?' Ryosuke asked, feeling relieved they had moved past the touchy subject of his own rather undefined feelings towards a certain, very much engaged, fellow medical student.

'His name,' she repeated, 'it's Kazuma. It has the Japanese word for horse in it!'

'Oh, I see,' Ryosuke chuckled softly.

'I'm glad you find it funny,' Erika protested.

'Sorry,' Ryosuke hurried to apologise.

'I'm just such an idiot to even think of stuff like that,' Erika said, 'if he ever heard me saying something as ridiculous as that, he'd probably have a field day making fun of me.'

'I highly doubt that,' Ryosuke observed, 'besides, didn't he call you himself only last week?'

'Yes, he did,' she admitted, 'but only because he wanted to pass on a message.'

'That clearly was an excuse,' Ryosuke countered, 'bottom line is: he's still thinking about you just as much as you're thinking about him or more. Now, I know that you said you've made your mind up but pushing yourself so hard to forget about your feelings won't do you any good.'

'I know,' Erika said, speaking again with a tiny voice.

'So just give yourself the time you need,' Ryosuke advised, 'staying focused on your dream will definitely help but I don't really think it's healthy for you to force yourself to forget the person you spent the last four years of your life with.'

'You're right,' Erika agreed, looking a little bit better.

'And regarding my party…' Ryosuke continued.

'I'll be happy to attend it,' Erika interrupted him, 'if I'm invited, that is!'

'Of course you are,' Ryosuke said, 'I can't wait to introduce you to Keisuke.'

'Well,' she replied, 'to be honest, you speak so much about him that I feel like I already know him but, regardless of that, I can't wait to meet him either, from what you said, he's quite the rascal.'

'That's putting it mildly,' Ryosuke laughed softly.

Erika stole a glance at the FC's clock and, looking a little disappointed, she said:

'I better go now, or I'll never wake up on time tomorrow morning.'

'You've got that early lecture, haven't you?' Ryosuke asked.

'Too early,' Erika complained, 'especially since it's Saturday, you'd think university lecturers liked their weekends but it seems like they're just as bored as we are.'

'Speak for yourself,' Ryosuke said.

'That's right,' Erika replied, 'you've got that Fuji-thingy race, don't you?'

'Yes,' Ryosuke laughed, 'and it's Fuji Freshman Series,' he reminded her gently, 'I take you still don't want to come and watch the race.'

'Er…'

'It's okay,' Ryosuke interrupted her, 'I know you're not too keen on any kind of motor sports.'

Erika just smiled sheepishly then, she grabbed the door's handle and, giving it a little pull, she opened the door and, before climbing out of the car, she gave him her best smile and said:

'I'll see you next week, right?'

'Of course,' Ryosuke replied, 'I'm looking forward to visiting the new planetarium.'

'Me too,' Erika agreed then, she got out of the car and, turning round briefly, she said, 'good night.'

'Good night,' Ryosuke repeated.

A few instants later and while he drove from Maebashi back to Takasaki, he thought about the pleasant evening he'd just spent with Erika. He felt incredibly blessed to have found someone like her: not only he enjoyed their long conversations over a wide range of subjects, but he also loved the fact that Erika had never shown any indication she wanted anything other than friendship from him. It was this that made him feel relaxed around her and, in his opinion; that alone was reason enough for him to look forward to spending time with her almost as much as he longed getting behind the steering wheel of his beloved FC.

Feeling rather pleased with himself, Ryosuke arrived home to find an empty house; checking his wristwatch, he saw that it was nearly ten o'clock in the evening: his parents were attending one of the parties organised by the Gunma Women Social Club, probably to sponsor one of the many charities the group supported while for Keisuke, on the other hand, his "day" had just started and would definitely not get home until at least several more hours.

He was about to make his way towards the kitchen when he heard a door opening and turning round, he saw that it was one of the first floor bedrooms, the ones used by the two maids who lived in the Takahashi residence. The head poking out of the door belonged to Mari Fujita, the youngest of the two.

'Ryosuke-sama,' the girl said looking a little flustered, 'I wasn't informed you'd be in so early…'

'It's not that early,' he countered then, before she could even get out of her room, he added, 'go back to bed, I'll help myself to some supper and then I'll just retire for the night.'

'Understood,' Fujita replied and, this time she looked a little disappointed, 'have a good night.'

'You too,' Ryosuke said politely.

Hearing the door being locked again, he continued walking towards the kitchen and, there, he just grabbed a few biscuits and a glass of milk. He considered making himself a sandwich but, ultimately, he chose not to bother and, instead, he went upstairs to his favourite place in the whole world: his bedroom.

Placing the plate with the biscuits and the glass of milk on top of his desk, he turned his computer on and started working on the growing list of files that he'd created to feed his theory.

Three hours later, he must have fallen asleep on his chair because a loud noise startled him awake and, for a moment or two he felt the same panicky and disorienting sensation typical of when one got woken up all of a sudden.

'ANIKI!'

Forcing his stiff neck to turn his head towards the door, he saw an extremely excited Keisuke barging into the room. Ryosuke was about to point out that he had not invited him in when Keisuke just plunged himself on top of his older brother's perfectly made bed and, smiling like the kid he was, he announced:

'I've done it!'

Ryosuke took a couple of deep breaths, he pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head in resignation, he then looked back at his overexcited younger brother and, using up every bit of his patience, he asked:

'What have you done?'

'I've won!' Keisuke replied.

'Won, what?' Ryosuke asked, still forcing himself to be patient.

'A race!' Keisuke exclaimed happily.

That got Ryosuke's attention. Perking up on his seat, he frowned a little and asked:

'A race?'

'Yeah!' Keisuke replied, 'it was awesome, I…'

'Wait,' Ryosuke ordered, 'when exactly did you start racing?'

'Oh,' Keisuke gasped, his smile quickly turning a sheepish one, 'it was kind of your idea.'

'My idea?' Ryosuke asked raising his eyebrows in surprise and disbelief.

'Yeah,' Keisuke replied, 'remember last summer in Mt Myogi?'

Ryosuke did remember and somehow, that made him understand everything.

'I see,' he said then, it occurred to him that since Keisuke didn't have a car, it could only mean that he was racing with his bike, that very thought was absolutely terrifying, 'Keisuke, you…'

'Aniki,' he interrupted him with a warning tone, 'please don't start with one of your lectures. It's been a great evening and I'm really happy, I…'

'I won't lecture you,' Ryosuke promised him, 'I just…'

'I know,' Keisuke interrupted him again, 'you're worried about me but you don't have to. Contrary to popular believe I don't want to get myself killed or anything so we're always putting safety first.'

'You are?' Ryosuke asked, unable to hide his scepticism from his voice.

'Yes, we are,' Keisuke insisted, 'take tonight, for instance, we…'

'Wait a minute,' Ryosuke said, 'let's take a step back for a moment, when did you start racing?'

'Like I said…'

'I know you got the inspiration from what you saw on Mt Myogi,' Ryosuke explained, 'but, I want to know is: how long has this been going on?'

'Not long,' Keisuke replied, 'originally we only raced each other, you know, within the members of our group but that became really boring after a while.'

'Why is that?' Ryosuke asked although he suspected the answer.

'Well, I always won,' Keisuke replied with just a hint of arrogance, 'and that kind of gets old fast.'

Ryosuke tried to repress the proud smile that he felt was coming up.

'Carry on,' he prompted instead.

'Well,' Keisuke said, 'we started scouting the prefecture for other bikers that raced. Aniki, you'd be surprised how hard that kind of thing is!'

Ryosuke nodded his agreement because, he did know. After all, it had been nearly a month since his race in Mt Usui and he had yet to find another gathering that was worth that name. He was beginning to suspect that it was a lot harder than he thought to find out about them.

'So,' Keisuke continued, 'we started visiting the passes…'

'You're racing with your bike in the mountain passes?' Ryosuke asked, sounding slightly alarmed.

'Yeah,' Keisuke replied.

'Keisuke…'

'I told you not to worry,' Keisuke reminded him, 'we're not mental, you know?'

'I…'

'Take tonight,' Keisuke interrupted, 'we went to the Kasuo Pass, do you know where that is?'

'Yes I do,' Ryosuke replied, 'that's the old Route from Gunma to the Tochigi prefecture, isn't it?'

'Yes,' Keisuke confirmed, 'well, I heard that there were a group of bikers there who used the section of the Provincial Route 15 from its start up to the point where it intersects with Route 58.'

'I see,' Ryosuke said feeling quite relieved, 'that part of the road is quite flat, isn't it?'

'It is,' Keisuke replied, 'although I heard from the locals there that the road the cars use for their races is the Route 58, in fact,' he added with badly acted nonchalance, 'we had to race tonight because tomorrow night there'll be a gathering there.'

'A gathering?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Yeah,' Keisuke replied, 'you know, of the kind you're looking for, with cars and stuff.'

This time Ryosuke could not prevent the smile that curved his lips and felt a wave of both gratitude and affection towards his younger brother. The fact that Keisuke approved of his street racing activities really meant a lot to him but to have him actively sharing information about upcoming gatherings was a lot more he'd allowed himself to hope for.

'So,' Ryosuke said, 'tell me all about this race of yours.'

'It was awesome!' Keisuke started, 'my opponent was a really tough one!'

'Which sort of bike did he use?' Ryosuke asked.

'Er…' Keisuke hesitated then, he blushed a bit and, scratching the back of his head, he confessed, 'I have no idea, all I know it was a green Kawasaki.'

'Alright,' Ryosuke laughed softly, 'I guess it doesn't matter to you.'

'Not really,' Keisuke agreed, 'but you know, during the race I figured a few things out.'

'For instance?' Ryosuke asked.

'Did you know that if one stays behind the opponent, that windy…no, wait…it's another word…'

'Aerodynamics?' Ryosuke suggested.

'Yeah, that,' Keisuke nodded, 'well, if you stay behind the opponent you can go as fast as he goes using up a lot less power because…' he stopped talking, frowned a bit as if he were making a mental effort then, clearly giving up, he said, 'well, I have no idea of why but it works.'

'I know it does,' Ryosuke replied, his smile back on his face.

'Anyway,' Keisuke said, 'I used this trick and, just as we were making it to the finish line, I veered to get myself to the inside of the racing line and the rest was a piece of cake! Mind you, the guy did his best to get rid of me but, I was just too stubborn to give up!'

Ryosuke just nodded again but then, something else occurred to him.

'Say,' he said, 'wouldn't you be interested in coming with me tomorrow night to the gathering you've heard about?'

'What?' Keisuke gasped, 'why? They're racing with cars!' he added as if the very idea of him going anywhere near a car was a preposterous one.

'Well,' Ryosuke tried again, 'that's kind of the point, maybe you'd…'

'Aniki,' Keisuke stopped him, 'no offence but, I don't really like cars, you know that.'

'I do, it's just that I'd like to,' he paused briefly trying to come up with a way to persuade his younger brother, 'I'd like to watch your driving and…'

'Oh, if that's all you want, we could just go somewhere anytime you're free.'

'We could?' Ryosuke asked.

'Of course,' Keisuke replied, 'I could come up with you whenever you go to Mt Akagi to practice.'

'No,' Ryosuke countered, 'not Mt Akagi.'

'Why not?' Keisuke asked, looking slightly confused.

'It's too dangerous,' Ryosuke replied.

'What?'

'You heard me,' Ryosuke insisted, 'Keisuke, promise me you'll never race on your bike in Mt Akagi.'

'Aniki…'

'Promise me,' Ryosuke pressed him.

'But…'

'Keisuke, promise me.'

'Okay, okay,' the younger brother conceded, 'I just…'

'Give me your word,' Ryosuke insisted once again.

Keisuke looked a little taken aback but, getting very serious, he nodded and said:

'I give you my word.'

'Alright,' Ryosuke said, 'I'll look around for a place where I can follow you with my car, okay?'

'Fine,' Keisuke replied.

'Now, we should both go to bed,' Ryosuke said getting up from his chair, effectively forcing Keisuke to do the same, 'just so you know,' he added placing his hand on top of Keisuke's shoulder, noticing that the kid had grown even taller,'I'm very proud of you.'

Keisuke blushed a bit but, trying to play it cool, he smirked at his older brother and said:

'Of course you are.'

'Now go to bed you rascal,' Ryosuke said shoving him towards the door.

'Good night, Aniki,' Keisuke laughed.

'Good night,' Ryosuke replied.

He then waited until Keisuke had shut the door behind him to sit back in front of his computer. There, he opened a small file with the initials TK. The file itself was just a couple of lines long but, after a few minutes, there were two whole new paragraphs added to it. Ryosuke stopped typing and spent a minute re-reading what he'd just written before saving the file and closing it again, smiling while he did so because, unless he was very much mistaken, he'd just found a very exciting exception to his ultimate fastest driving theory: his younger brother Keisuke.

The following evening, Ryosuke drove to Mikami-san's workshop where he and Shuichi put the final touches on the FC, in preparation for the Fuji Freshman series race in SUGO Sportsland, one of the largest sports facilities in the country, located in the Miyagi prefecture, just over three hundred kilometres northeast of Takasaki.

'I'd say we're done,' Shuichi said closing his extremely well assorted toolbox.

Ryosuke just nodded once while he observed his pride and joy. The FC's white paint was gleaming, the pitch black from the brand new set of tyres providing a good contrast to it.

'Are you hungry?' Shuichi asked him.

'A bit,' Ryosuke replied, forcing himself to stop staring at his car so that he could look at Shuichi.

'Let's go to eat something then,' Shuichi suggested, 'there's a new place that's serving a really good yakitori, even Mikami-san approves of it!'

'Er…'

'Oh, do you have other plans?' Shuichi asked, looking a little worried.

Ryosuke did have other plans, more specifically, he wanted to drive to the Kasuo Pass as soon as possible but, since he could hardly tell Shuichi about that, he shook his head once and said:

'No, I don't.'

'Oh, good,' Shuichi said sighing his relief, 'let's go then, while we eat you can tell me what's your plan regarding tomorrow's race.'

'Okay,' Ryosuke accepted.

Fifteen minutes later, the two of them were sitting at the bar of the yakitori restaurant. Ryosuke could appreciate that the place was indeed brand new, in fact, even the dark brown leather from the stools looked freshly polished and everything else was equally shiny but the most remarkable thing was the yakitori itself: the chicken was extremely juicy and the sauce in which it was marinated was absolutely delicious.

'This is so good,' Shuichi commented in between bites, 'isn't it?'

'Yes, it is,' Ryosuke agreed.

'I tried getting them to give me the recipe,' Shuichi confessed, 'but the owner said it's a secret that's passed down through the family.'

'The best recipes always are,' Ryosuke commented.

'Speaking of,' Shuichi said, 'do you have any plans for tomorrow's race?'

'I think I do,' Ryosuke replied, 'SUGO is a pretty long circuit with plenty of places in which it's possible to overtake, for this reason I think it's essential that we focus on qualifying well for the race so that I can get ahead as quickly as possible.'

'A defensive tactic then,' Shuichi said.

'Exactly,' Ryosuke confirmed.

'We will need to time the pit-stop very well,' Shuichi commented.

'I think we should leave that decision until tomorrow,' Ryosuke said, 'the weather predictions said that there would be no rain but I want to know just how warm it'll be. Also, I haven't felt the tarmac yet, I've read that it's a fairly abrasive one so we'll need to take that into consideration.'

'You're right,' Shuichi said, 'as usual,' he added with a smirk.

Ryosuke limited himself to getting another bite and, while doing so, he also checked the time at the clock hanging from the restaurant's wall: it was nearly eight. He had to hurry up or, else…

'Are you in a rush?' Shuichi asked him noticing how Ryosuke had increased his eating speed.

'Not really,' he lied, 'I just want to get home as fast as possible. We've got a long drive ahead tomorrow morning.'

'And we have to get up early,' Shuichi added looking a little disgruntled, 'you know, you make me look bad.'

'Why is that?' Ryosuke asked him.

'I'm older than you and I'm your chief mechanic,' Shuichi explained, 'it should be my job to tell you, the driver, to be responsible and get plenty of rest before the race.'

'Don't be silly,' Ryosuke said, 'there's no need for you to mother me.'

'I know,' Shuichi replied, looking even more downcast, 'but that's just it…I kind of feel useless.'

'You shouldn't,' Ryosuke insisted, 'you're doing a great job with the car and that's all that matters.'

'If you say so…'

'I do,' Ryosuke said, 'now, eat up or it'll get cold.'

'Yes, boss,' Shuichi said only half-jokingly.

After paying the bill, the two men left the restaurant, making their way to the small, adjacent parking area where they had left the FC and one of the white vans belonging to Mikami-san's workshop. Ryosuke watched a tad impatiently while Shuichi climbed behind the van's wheel but then the mechanic stopped to bid Ryosuke a good night.

'Good night to you too,' Ryosuke replied rushing to get inside his Mazda.

He then waited until Shuichi turned the van's engine on to do the same with the FC's, enjoying as he usually did when hearing the healthy purr coming from beneath the bonnet. They really had done an excellent job during the last tuning session: the rotary had never sounded any better.

Pulling into the main road, Ryosuke started driving towards the Provincial Route 462 that would take him from Isesaki all the way to Takasaki. Once there, instead of heading south towards the Route 324, he started driving north, cutting across the entire town of Isesaki, on his way to the Tochigi prefecture.

Knowing he had to hurry, he pushed the accelerator down going as fast as he dared and, in just a little over an hour later, he found himself at the very start of the Provincial Route 15. Immediately, he started noticing several people standing here and there behind the guardrails.

Feeling the excitement gathering up in his stomach, he had to take some deep breaths to calm down enough so that he could remind himself that he was just scouting the place and that, by no means, he would be racing that evening. He had half-convinced himself when, reaching an intersection, with a small asphalted area serving as an impromptu car park, he noticed a very familiar lime green S12.

Finding the nearest empty spot, he parked his FC, stopped the engine and, as he climbed out of the car, he saw that Shoya Tomizawa had already spotted him. The short guy stopped talking to another man and, smiling at Ryosuke, he walked towards him while he shouted:

'Hey, this sure is a pleasant surprise!'

'Good evening,' Ryosuke said.

'Should I feel flattered you've come to watch me race?' a still smiling Shoya asked him then, lowering his tone of voice and getting serious, he added, 'or maybe a little threatened?'

'No, no,' Ryosuke hurried to reply, 'it was just a coincidence; I didn't know you'd be here.'

Shoya stared at him for a bit then, his grin returned to his face and said:

'Alright, I believe you.'

'Thank you,' Ryosuke felt himself compelled to say, 'I'm just here as a spectator, nothing else.'

'For some reason,' Shoya replied, 'that doesn't really make me feel any better.'

'Er…'

'But it's okay,' Shoya said, 'come, I'll introduce you to my opponent.'

'Okay,' Ryosuke agreed.

Following the shorter man, Ryosuke saw that they were walking towards a light blue metallic Toyota AW11. While it seemed to be a slightly older version of the cars driven by Hiroshi and Tsuyoshi, Ryosuke noticed that several aftermarket parts had been added to it and he could only guess that the same amount of work had been put into the supercharged engine resting under the bonnet.

'Teru,' Shoya said speaking to a man in his mid-twenties who had an unsettling scar on the left side of his face, 'this is Takahashi Ryosuke, the kid I was telling you about. Takahashi, this is my friend Kurebayashi Teru, he's been racing on the Kasuo Pass ever since I can remember.'

'That's an exaggeration,' the guy called Teru protested, 'it hasn't been that long.'

'Yes it has,' Shoya insisted.

'You're much older than I am,' Teru pointed out, 'so…'

'Hey,' Shoya interrupted him, 'are you sure you want to offend me before we race?'

Teru only smirked at him then, turning his attention back to Ryosuke, he said:

'So, this old man here says you've beaten him in Usui…'

'Er…'

'I take you're here to find yourself another opponent worthy of your talent,' Teru commented.

'No,' Ryosuke finally replied, 'I'm just watching besides, I…'

'Don't even try to play the modesty card,' Shoya warned him, 'you beat me in my home turf and contrary to what you said, that was most definitely not good luck.'

'Tomizawa-san…'

'He's a really good driver,' Shoya insisted, this time talking to his friend Teru, 'don't let him fool you with his innocent, I'm-just-a-good-boy looks.'

Ryosuke did a double take hearing that but Teru's laughter made him feel even worse.

'I'd love to talk some more to you,' the guy said, 'but I need to get ready for a race now. Since you've raced Shoya before you know you simply can't take things easy with him.'

Shaking his head no, Ryosuke refrained himself from speaking.

'Okay,' Shoya said quickly getting in racing-mode, 'let's do this.'

'I'll see you after the race,' Teru said, still speaking to Ryosuke.

The Kasuo Pass racer didn't even let him reply to that and, very soon, Ryosuke watched everyone getting ready for the start of the race. He soon found himself pushed around by people who wanted to get the best possible place from which to watch the show, he even felt someone pulling him by his arm in a rather painful way. He turned round to see who had dared when, to his utmost shock and horror, he saw the last person he expected to see, glaring at him in anger.

'What the hell do you think you're doing in here?' a very pissed Shuichi asked.

_To be continued…_


	18. Chapter Seventeen

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Twiners for posting the 86th review. For obvious reasons. And to pilot-tenkawa for his technical nit-pick. I went and fixed the typo! ^_^ Also, be warned, Ryosuke lately cannot catch a break! *is an evil, evil author* As usual, many thanks to all for reading!

**Planetarium**

_Chapter Seventeen_

After literally dragging Ryosuke away from the crowd to a much quieter area at the start of a secondary road, Shuichi stood in front of him, shoulders squared, arms crossed over his chest and a fierce expression on the mechanic's usually kind looking face. Ryosuke had to repress the urge to burst out laughing; wisely deciding that Shuichi would probably not appreciate it.

'So,' the older man said, 'what do you have to say in your defence?'

'Matsumoto, I…' Ryosuke started, all hilarity gone, replaced by a more appropriate seriousness.

'Do you even understand how much trouble you'd be in if the police came right now?' Shuichi asked him then, not even giving him to answer the question, he fired yet another one, 'not to mention the fact that, something terrible happened in this very pass. I'm sure you don't know that…'

'I do know what happened,' Ryosuke stopped him.

'Do you, now?' Shuichi asked sounding highly sceptical.

'Yes, I do,' Ryosuke replied firmly, 'Mikami-san's son was killed because of a street race in here.'

To his credit, Shuichi looked startled just for an instant then, recovering fast, he said:

'I see, Fumihiro told you about it.' Since it wasn't a question, Ryosuke didn't bother to reply and that made Shuichi add, 'well, if you knew; why did you come here at all? Why get yourself involved in this kind of things? I've been suspecting it for a while and that's the reason why I followed you here tonight even though I really, really wanted to be wrong.'

'I'm sorry to disappoint you,' Ryosuke said.

'Disappoint me?' Shuichi asked looking incredulous, 'what makes you think I'm disappointed?'

'Well, I…' he started then, not really knowing what to say, he took a deep breath and tried again, 'look, I know I should have told you about this sooner, I just…'

'No,' Shuichi interrupted him, 'it's not that I wanted to know. I'm not even upset that you've obviously lied to me and to Mikami-san and probably to Fumi… oh,' he paused briefly as the realisation dawned on him, 'Fumihiro knows about this, doesn't he?'

'Yes, he does,' Ryosuke said, 'but, like I was saying…'

'I am such an idiot,' Shuichi whimpered, clearly speaking to himself.

'You're most definitely not an idiot,' Ryosuke said.

'Yes I am,' Shuichi argued, 'I thought that we had become friends but that's not the case, is it?'

'It is,' Ryosuke countered, 'and that's precisely the reason why I didn't want you to know.' Shuichi looked lost and that forced Ryosuke to explain himself better, 'after Fumihiro told me about Mikami-san's son, I decided that if you found out about this it would place you in an uncomfortable position with Mikami-san since he's your employer and I didn't want to do that to you precisely because we _are_ friends and I didn't want to cause you problems in your workplace.'

Shuichi remained silent for a while, as though he was processing the whole thing. When he spoke again, it was to try and tackle his case from a different angle:

'I appreciate what you did and the reasons why you did it but, I still think this is a terrible idea.'

'I know you do,' Ryosuke accepted, 'sadly, there's nothing I can do about that.'

'Yes, there is,' Shuichi countered, 'you should quit this at once! In fact, we should just go home.'

'I'm not going anywhere,' Ryosuke replied resolutely.

'But…'

'Matsumoto,' he said, 'I know that what I'm doing, what everyone is doing here is illegal and we could very well end up in prison, however I…'

'Do you think that's all I'm worried about?' Shuichi asked looking astonished.

'Isn't it?' Ryosuke asked back.

'NO!' Shuichi exclaimed then, he changed his mind and said, 'well, it's NOT the only thing that worries me. The thing that worries me the most is that this kind of racing is stupidly dangerous.'

'I know that,' Ryosuke said sounding extremely calm.

'You…' Shuichi started then, making a visible effort to be reasonable, he said 'look, I know you're a natural born racer and by definition that makes you a thrill-seeker but you can get the same sort of adrenaline rush at the Fuji Freshman Series, can't you?'

'No, I can't,' Ryosuke replied.

'Why not?' Shuichi asked.

'Because it's not the same,' Ryosuke replied.

'Why not?' Shuichi repeated, now sounding slightly desperate.

'I can't explain it,' was Ryosuke's incredible reply, 'I just know that I've never felt more alive than when I won my first street race and I've never felt any freer than when I'm racing on the streets. I don't want to give that up, no matter what.'

'But,' Shuichi said in one last attempt to salvage his case, 'you can only race for three more years, wouldn't it be better if you spend them focusing on conventional racing instead?

'No,' Ryosuke firmly replied, 'like I've told you many times, I don't want to be a professional racer so focusing any efforts in that direction is a waste of time. You also know that my sole intention is to become as fast as possible and I want to do it my way, here, on the mountain passes...'

'But…'

'…and I will do it,' Ryosuke finished looking dead serious, 'with or without your support.'

Shuichi took this as if Ryosuke had slapped him and for a couple of minutes he stared at the younger man in such a bewildered state that he could not even bring himself to speak. He only reacted when Ryosuke started walking away from him to go back to where the crowd was.

'Wait.'

'What?' Ryosuke asked sounding a lot drier than he intended.

The mechanic chose to ignore that and, sighing heavily, he shook his head and said:

'You don't need to do this.'

'Do what?' Ryosuke asked this time sounding like he was trying to be patient.

'Do it alone,' Shuichi replied.

'Matsumoto…'

'Hear me out, please,' Shuichi almost begged.

'Okay,' Ryosuke agreed.

'I'm not happy with what you're doing and I still think it's dangerous,' Shuichi started, 'but I also know that while there's not much I can do about it, one thing I can do is to make sure your car is properly serviced at all times so that it's as safe as a car can ever be.'

'Matsumoto…'

'For this reason,' Shuichi continued, 'I'm going to pretend that we're just preparing the car for the regular Fuji Freshman Series races so that I don't have to offer any uncomfortable explanation to Mikami-san, or to myself for that matter.'

'Matsumoto….'

'But,' Shuichi finished, 'there's one thing, no, wait, two things you must absolutely promise me.'

'What are they?' Ryosuke asked, his lips twitching up in a small smile.

'First,' the mechanic said, 'after every race, it doesn't matter which kind, I demand to do a full checkup to the car, even if you think it's in pristine order.'

'That sounds reasonable,' Ryosuke admitted.

'Second,' Shuichi said, 'and this is the most important part, you must give me your word that you will never take any unnecessary risks. You might not think anything of it but both Fumihiro and I agree on the fact that you are not a conventional person…'

'…should I take that as a compliment?' Ryosuke was cheeky enough to ask.

'Yes,' Shuichi replied seriously, 'you're an exceptionally talented racer, of the kind that appear only once every few years, you're also a very intelligent man and you need to take good care of yourself, also because your father is counting on you to take over his business, isn't he?'

Ryosuke felt the usual surge of irrational anger when hearing about his already planned-for future, nevertheless, he forced himself to nod and, adopting his most serious tone, he said:

'I will take care of myself, I promise.'

'Always,' Shuichi insisted.

'Always,' Ryosuke repeated.

'And you will not join the wrong sort of crowd,' Shuichi added, sounding almost motherly-like.

'The wrong sort of crowd?' Ryosuke asked incredulously.

'You know what I mean,' Shuichi said, 'I've heard about them…the gangsters…that sort of thing.'

Ryosuke briefly considered telling Shuichi about Keisuke's merry group of friends but decided that the poor guy already had enough on his plate and, for this reason, he nodded again and said:

'I promise I will be careful with the people I associate myself with.'

'Fine,' Shuichi said still not looking one hundred percent sure.

'Just so you know,' Ryosuke felt the need to say, 'you could choose to stay out of this altogether.'

'No way,' Shuichi protested, 'someone needs to keep an eye on you!'

Raising both of his eyebrows, Ryosuke gave him a look.

'You know you do,' Shuichi insisted.

'Fine,' Ryosuke admitted, 'but only because I wouldn't trust anyone else with my FC.'

Shuichi looked a little flustered for a second then, trying to cover it up, he said:

'Okay, can we go home now?'

'No,' was Ryosuke's frustrating reply, 'there's something I must do before I'm ready to leave.'

'What is it?' Shuichi asked without bothering to mask a hint of panic in his tone of voice.

'You'll see,' Ryosuke simply said.

With this, the future doctor just walked away forcing the mechanic to follow him back to the main road. Once there, they saw that a fairly large number of people was still standing there, gathered in little groups surrounding or staying as close as possible to the very few people who carried what seemed to be a radio set.

'What's going on?' Shuichi asked Ryosuke.

Ryosuke ignored him while he too listened to the play-by-play given by whoever was at the other end of the radio sets. From that, they found out that while Shoya Tomizawa was putting up quite the fight, the local hero was not disappointing his fanbase and had stayed firmly on the lead ever since the start of the race. Hearing this made Ryosuke a little upset that Shuichi's sudden arrival had made him miss out what he knew was one of the most exciting parts of every street battle.

A few moments later, the crowd simply exploded in a massive cheer: Teru Kurebayashi had won.

'Wow, they're so noisy!' Shuichi complained.

'I know,' Ryosuke replied repressing a rather patronising smile.

'I still can't believe you like this kind of thing,' Shuichi said.

'I don't,' Ryosuke confessed, 'but it's just the way it is.'

Shuichi spent the following few minutes staring at the younger main in disbelief: he had never seen Ryosuke looking more at ease with himself, not even during the hours the two spent working on the FC, or even when they went to the racing tracks. It was as though as the future doctor felt right at home only there, in the middle of the night, surrounded by perfect strangers in some unknown mountain pass between Gunma and Tochigi. Things could not get any weirder.

'Come now,' Ryosuke said taking him out of his reverie.

'Why?' Shuichi asked him.

'They're coming back,' Ryosuke replied.

Before he could ask any further questions, they heard two powerful sounding engines driving down the road and, a few instants later the mechanic saw an old lime green S12 Gazelle and an only slightly newer light blue AW11 approaching at an absurdly high speed.

'I thought the race was over,' Shuichi commented.

Ryosuke just looked at him then, getting serious again, he started walking with resolute steps towards the guardrail. He leapt over it and then, he waited by the side of the road till the AW11 stopped right next to him. Feeling a brand new surge of panic, Shuichi rushed to Ryosuke's side.

'Congratulations,' he heard Ryosuke saying to the man driving the Toyota.

'Thanks,' Teru replied, his scarred face breaking into a huge grin, 'I see you waited for me.'

'I did,' Ryosuke said, 'because I want to ask you to race me.'

Hearing this Shuichi, along with a fair number of people including Teru himself did a double take. The only one who didn't seem to be surprised was Shoya Tomizawa who let out a soft chuckle.

'What did I tell you?' the Usui racer asked.

Teru glanced at Shoya then he looked back at Ryosuke and, nodding once, he said:

'Thanks for saving me the trouble.'

'What do you mean?' Ryosuke asked.

'Well, I was going to challenge you myself but since you've done it yourself…'

'I see,' Ryosuke said then, he asked, 'when are you going to be available?'

Teru nodded approvingly.

'Shoya told me you were quite the serious guy. I can see he wasn't lying.'

'I do take most things seriously,' Ryosuke agreed.

'Good,' Teru replied, 'unfortunately, I already have a couple of previous commitments for the following two weekends however, will you be free on the last Saturday of the month?'

Ryosuke thought about it for a moment then, he nodded and said:

'I should be free on that day, should we meet here at nine o'clock?'

'Sure,' Teru replied, a grin returning to his features, 'we've got ourselves a deal.'

To make his point, the local racer offered him his hand. Ryosuke took it and with a firm handshake, the two of them sealed their agreement. Only then, Ryosuke noticed the way people were staring at him; some, the majority as if they could not believe their eyes; a few others looked a little crossed, as if they thought that he had been overly daring with their local hero.

Ignoring all of them, he looked at Shuichi and said:

'Now we can go home.'

It took the whole night and a good part of the following morning for Shuichi to recover from the series of emotional shocks he'd suffered from the moment he'd seen Ryosuke driving north on the 462 instead of south. He only reacted when, parking the truck that would take the FC all the way to the SUGO Sportsland circuit, he saw a carefree Hiroshi chatting with Ryosuke himself.

'Matsumo…' the Mazdaspeed salesman started.

'Don't talk to me,' Shuichi said a little too aggressively.

'Whoa…'

'You traitor,' the mechanic continued, 'you…'

'Matsumoto!' Ryosuke exclaimed then, lowering his tone, he said, 'it's not Fumihiro's fault, if you have to blame someone, blame me.'

'What's going on?' Hiroshi finally asked.

'What's going on?' Shuichi repeated half incredulous half mocking, 'I can't…'

'He knows about my…other hobby,' Ryosuke explained to a very confused Hiroshi.

'Ah…oh…I understand,' the man said.

'Lucky you,' Shuichi said sarcastically, 'because I would have loved to understand many things before I bumped into the whole thing last night.'

'Okay, that's enough,' Ryosuke admonished him, 'I thought we had an agreement.'

'We do,' Shuichi said, 'but…'

'That agreement depends on you leaving Fumihiro alone,' Ryosuke said, 'he didn't tell you anything because I asked him not to so, if you need to get mad at someone, it should be me.'

'But…'

'And since we need to get going,' Ryosuke interrupted him, 'I suggest you postpone any further discussions until we get to the track, is that agreeable for you?'

'Alright,' Shuichi said a little reluctantly.

'For all it's worth…' Hiroshi started.

'Fumihiro,' Ryosuke stopped him too, 'we do need to go.'

With this and not giving either man the chance to say anything else, he made his way back to the FC to prepare it for the four hour long trip, forcing both Hiroshi and Shuichi to follow suit. A few moments later they were joined by the three other mechanics which formed part of the team.

They arrived at the SUGO Sportsland facilities at around ten o'clock in the morning. Ryosuke knew they were cutting it a bit too thin but he also trusted everyone who worked with him to do their job in an impeccable manner, forgetting all their disagreements, focusing their energies on having the car set up and ready for the start of the first practice session just an hour later.

'I would say you take it easy,' Shuichi commented while Ryosuke finished suiting up, 'but after what I saw last night…'

He left it hanging in there, probably hoping Ryosuke would somehow retort, however the future doctor refused to give him the satisfaction and, instead, he just climbed into the FC and started fastening the racing seatbelt.

'Alright,' Shuichi tried again, 'be careful.'

'I will be,' Ryosuke promised.

Just as he started rolling the car out of their assigned space and onto the track's pitlane, he saw Shuichi walking towards Hiroshi, probably gearing up to give him an earful. To his amusement, he also saw how Hiroshi rushed to grab the nearest pair of headphones, quickly putting them on.

'They're worse than children,' he muttered to himself.

After that, he switched his brain into racing mode and, soon enough he concentrated on learning the track as quickly as possible while, at the same time, checking that everything was right in the FC's configuration. Ten laps later, he got back into the pitlane feeling rather pleased with it all.

Soon after the end of the practice session, the organization called for the usual pre-qualifying meeting and after that, all drivers were allowed to take a walk around the track to check for anything they might have missed while racing along it during the practice session. It was during this walk that Ryosuke was approached by Yasushi Kikuchi.

'Hey,' the racer said, 'how are you doing?'

'Not bad,' Ryosuke replied.

'I've seen the way you drive that FC of yours,' Yasushi said. Ryosuke didn't say anything to that and that made Yasushi say, 'I don't want to sound patronising but you're pretty impressive.'

'Thank you,' Ryosuke replied, 'you're very fast yourself.'

'And I'm only going to get faster,' the guy said without a trace of arrogance in his tone.

'I'm sure you will,' Ryosuke replied, 'but I'll do my best too.'

'Of course,' Yasushi said then, offering him a quick salute, he proceeded to the other side of the track where he started checking the kerbs on the corner there. Ryosuke only wasted an instant watching his opponent before he resumed his own observation of the circuit, returning to the paddock area only half an hour later. There, he locked himself in the truck and started writing down every bit of information his brain had absorbed during the inspection.

The qualifying session started right after the end of one of the other filler races and by the time it did, Ryosuke was ready to put into practice the perfect lap he had come up with in his mind. Leaving the pitlane behind, he launched the car around the Third Corner, a fast left-hander, he then covered the rest of the nearly four kilometre long circuit as fast as he dared so that he would get to the finish line with as much momentum gathered as possible.

Forgetting about everything, the other racers, the public, even the members of his own team, Ryosuke concentrated all his mental power on keeping the FC right where he wanted it to be, shifting the gears at the spot he had pinpointed during his analysis braking as little as possible so that he would make the car fly over the track with the grace of a glider plane.

The result, just as predicted, was the fastest lap of the day.

'Oh my God,' Hiroshi told him while Ryosuke climbed out of the FC, 'that was beyond beautiful.'

'Thank you,' Ryosuke said.

'Seriously,' Shuichi insisted, 'look at the way everyone's looking at you!'

He did and, to his horror, Ryosuke saw that an alarmingly high number of people were staring at him as if he were some sort of alien and, for a fleeting moment he considered getting back inside his car and driving away as the 13B would take them. Thankfully, he managed to keep his cool and, making a dismissing gesture with his hand, he said:

'This was only qualifying; I still have to think of the race.'

With this, he made his way to the team's truck. There, he grabbed a bottle of water from the built-in mini fridge and, drinking a couple of sips he closed his eyes and leant against the seat.

'This is between me and you,' Hiroshi whispered to Shuichi, 'sometimes I don't think he's one hundred percent human.'

Shuichi didn't say anything but he too started having doubts regarding that matter.

At exactly four o'clock in the afternoon, Ryosuke was back inside the FC, driving it to the first position on the grid, noticing with pleasure that Yasushi's white and green Nissan Pulsar GTI-R was right next to his Mazda. He wasn't sure what but there was something about the guy that made Ryosuke like him, it was probably because he was the sort of driver he admired; unlike that Kyoichi Sudo, Yasushi Kikuchi had never been anything but polite and respectful and Ryosuke appreciated that.

He also appreciated that Yasushi was a truly talented driver and that knowledge made Ryosuke increase the level of concentration while he readied himself for the start of the race. He barely noticed the moment when Shuichi told him everything was ready; nor when everyone but the drivers left the starting grid. His brain only registered the moment when the race director pressed the button which gave them the literal green light to start the race; he then focused everything he had on getting the FC as far away from the E-RNN14 as mechanically possible.

Needless to say, Yasushi had other plans for his own race and Ryosuke noticed with pleasure how his rival started putting up a fight as they reached the Second Corner and soon the two racers were engaged in an exciting, motorised version of a tug war, with Ryosuke pulling away and Yasushi bringing his Nissan closer to the back of the Mazda. This game of theirs lasted all the way to the one pit-stop both racers had scheduled.

At that moment, and just as he had planned with his team, Ryosuke approached the entrance of the pitlane, delaying the moment when he would have to veer into it so much that, when he eventually did, he caught Yasushi so unprepared that the Nissan racer was forced to stay on the track for one more lap while Ryosuke just dashed towards the spot where Shuichi and his three colleagues waited for him with a fresh set of tyres for the FC.

Because of this strategy of his and in spite of Yasushi's best efforts during his single lap on the lead, Ryosuke retook the first position only a couple of laps after Yasushi entered for his pit-stop. Predictably enough, Yasushi refused to give up and very soon, the two drivers were once again fighting so fiercely for the victory that it made the audience wish the race would go on forever.

With only two more laps to go Ryosuke was having so much fun that, for a moment, he allowed himself to think of his conversation with Shuichi regarding the differences he'd so far found in track racing versus its street variant. He started considering the possibility that he had been too hasty in his judgment when, right in front of him darting along the straight after the Rainbow Corner, he spotted the three cars which were currently battling to avoid claiming the last place.

He didn't even have the chance to start thinking of a way to lap them for the second time because right then, the second-to-last vehicle, a dark red Mazda Familia GT-R, spun out of control hitting the poor black DC2 which was right in front of it. The result was that both cars stopped right across the track, forcing the marshals to produce their yellow flags.

Right then, among the mayhem and just as Ryosuke was veering towards the external part of the Horseback Corner, hoping to get back on track as quickly as possible, he saw first the nose, then the rest of Yasushi's E-RNN14 overtaking his FC, getting to the chicane in front of them slightly ahead of Ryosuke's Mazda as it sped away towards the circuit's last parabolic corner.

'Are you okay?' Ryosuke heard Shuichi's voice over the radio, his anguish badly hidden.

'Yes,' he replied curtly.

'We've just seen the mess,' Hiroshi added, 'and…'

'I'm okay, Ryosuke out.'

With that clear sign, his team left him alone, giving him the chance to start coming up with an alternative strategy that would allow him to overtake the Nissan. Half a lap later, Ryosuke was already picturing the manoeuvre in his mind when Hiroshi broke once again the radio silence.

'It's over,' the salesman said.

'What is?' Ryosuke asked him.

'I've just heard that Kikuchi's been given a drive through.'

'Why?' Ryosuke asked sounding as upset as he felt.

'He overtook you under a yellow flag regime,' Shuichi explained.

'What? That's…'

'…bullshit, I agree,' Hiroshi finished for him.

'Please, stay…'

'….I know, I know,' Ryosuke interrupted Shuichi before his chief mechanic could tell him to focus on his race, a fact he knew extremely well already; while he watched Yasushi's Nissan get into the boxes for his drive through thus damaging beyond repair his chances to win the race made Ryosuke painfully aware of the reason why he preferred street racing.

No rules.

That was what made the difference, Ryosuke decided when, just a few instants later he crossed the finish line seven seconds ahead of Yasushi, claiming his second Fuji Freshman Series win in a row. Somehow though, this victory had a bittersweet taste that he simply could not ignore.

Because of this, he went through the prize-giving ceremony on automatic pilot and had to refrain himself from apologizing to Yasushi. He realised that it wasn't like he had done anything wrong to the Nissan racer but, somewhere in his heart he knew that if this had been a street race, his distraction when the crash happened would have cost him the race. Instead, he was forced to see how some stupid technicality had robbed Yasushi of what, in Ryosuke's opinion, was his win.

A few days after that disappointing victory, he was getting ready to go to the Washington Plaza Hotel in central Takasaki for what, no doubt, would be anything but the sort of birthday party he would enjoy. In fact, from the guest list he'd seen, he already knew it was going to be one of those functions his father would use to increase his already spectacularly strong influence in the region.

He was knotting his new Italian silk tie when he heard a soft knock on the door. Too soft to be Keisuke, for this reason, he checked himself in the mirror one last time before he said:

'Come in, Mother.'

Kinue Takahashi came into the room, already clad in one of her best kimono: Ryosuke recognised it as one of the antiques her mother had bought in one of her trips to Kyoto, the dark grey silk was a beautiful contrast to her greying hair which, of course, was styled in an impeccable fashion.

'Happy birthday, son,' she said with the sort of tone he knew was her most affectionate.

'You look beautiful, mother,' he replied.

She just shook her head delicately then, she offered him a parcel which looked quite large in her tiny hands. Taking it, Ryosuke realised that it was quite heavy too, probably too heavy for her. This made him feel surprised that she had taken the trouble to bring it to him herself.

'I trust it will suit your taste,' Kinue said, 'since I'm not an expert, I had to ask for advice.'

Curious as to what was inside the box, Ryosuke opened it, trying to be careful not to tear up the wrapping since he knew that it would irk his mother. He finally lifted the expensive looking paper to reveal something that definitely suited his taste: the latest Panasonic wireless portable phone.

'Mother…' he almost gasped.

'I was told it's the latest model available,' she commented, 'but please be good and don't ask me how it works because I simply have no idea.'

'Don't worry about that,' Ryosuke said, 'I'm sure I'll manage.'

'Of course you will,' the woman said smiling proudly, 'now I better go, your father is already waiting for us at the venue. Please make sure Keisuke doesn't delay his arrival more than it's strictly necessary, I know he came home rather late last night.'

'I'll do my best,' he promised.

Ryosuke knew that his mother was being purposely obtuse and that while she spoke of 'last night' in reality she meant the morning, more specifically, eleven o'clock in the morning which was around the time Keisuke finally showed up, still half drunk and nursing a bloody nose. Ryosuke had made himself a mental note to ask him about that but, right now, he had to hurry.

At exactly ten minutes to seven, he and a severely hangover Keisuke entered the Washington Plaza Hotel where, as he half expected, he found Erika already waiting for him in the main lobby.

'Happy birthday,' the future veterinarian said, 'I know you said no presents but…' she said and then she smiled and produced a flat, A4 sized parcel from behind her back. Probably a photo book about cars or horses, Ryosuke thought taking it from her, smiling at her while he did so.

'Thank you,' he said, 'this is my younger brother Keisuke,' he added, 'Keisuke, this is Irie Erika.'

Keisuke offered her one of his rare smiles and also, his customary greeting: 'Yo!'

'Hello, Keisuke-kun,' an amused Erika said, 'it's nice to finally meet you, your brother…'

She never quite finished her sentence probably noticing Ryosuke's slightly horrified face when he saw the couple entering the hotel. He wondered the reason why Rin and Kaori were there when, right next to them, Ryosuke saw his own father, exchanging pleasantries with Rin himself.

If this wasn't bad enough, what happened next definitely was. Ryosuke felt his heartbeat increasing while he watched, like in slow motion, the moment when Kaori spotted Erika, making a beeline towards her, an obviously forced smile already on her face and a greeting on her lips.

'Hello!' Kaori said, her voice sounding a little higher pitched than usual.

'Hello,' Erika replied looking a little confused.

'It is so nice to meet you,' Kaori added, 'well, officially that is.'

'It's nice to meet you too,' Erika replied trying to be polite.

'After all,' Kaori said, 'since your boyfriend and my fiancé are friends, we should be friends too.'

At that precise moment, four pair of eyes focused on Ryosuke: three of them sported different degrees of curiosity while Erika's dark brown eyes were throwing daggers at him. The girl glared at him for a little bit longer, then, without giving Ryosuke the time to explain, she started running towards the hotel's main entrance.

_To be continued…_


	19. Chapter Eighteen

A/N: I just noticed right now that today, five years ago, I published the prologue of "Programmed Lives – First Stage", my first Initial D story. I felt a little emotional about that…*laughs*

Also, pimpin' story time: if you haven't done it yet, please go and read "Initial D – Side Stage" by FJ20ET. It's an awesome fanfic!

To finish off, thank you all for your continued support, I'll never tire of saying that it's what fuels me to continue writing, even if I can't do it as often as I'd like to. Now, on with the story…

**Planetarium **

_Chapter Eighteen_

For once in his life and just as Erika stepped out of the hotel's revolving doors, Ryosuke decided to pay attention to his instinct instead of his brain and lifted his right foot off the ground, getting ready to run after her but, right then, he felt a heavy hand on top of his shoulder. Turning round, he saw his father's seemingly calm face looking at him with the kind of ice-cold stare that made people feel terrified of him.

'Where do you think you're going?'

'Father, I…'

'Ryosuke,' Doctor Takahashi warned, 'this is your twentieth birthday party, you can't possibly think of leaving it, no matter the reason.' His father then lowered his tone so that only Ryosuke could hear him and added, 'you're an adult now, start behaving like one.'

Ryosuke felt like he'd just been slapped and, while a part of his brain wanted to shout that he had never failed to behave like an adult, another one wanted to tell his father to piss off and then run after Erika. Alas, his rationale kicked in and he did neither, instead, he used all of his willpower to simply nod and say:

'You're right, I'm sorry.'

His father just stared at him for a bit then, he turned to Rin and Kaori who were still looking at Ryosuke with equally confused expressions on their faces; Keisuke, on the other hand, had stopped paying attention to the whole incident and, instead, he looked like he was about to be sick; in fact, and to his father's further dismay, he barely had time to excuse himself before he ran towards the nearest bathroom.

'You need to forgive him…' the doctor started, clearly speaking to Rin.

'Oh, please do not worry,' the younger man said; he then offered a knowing smile to Doctor Takahashi and said something which made Ryosuke even madder, 'every family have their little rogues, even mine.'

'Yes, I guess you're right,' Sousuke said with a nod full of shared understanding.

'Father,' Ryosuke intervened, 'shouldn't we go and check on him?'

'Of course not,' the doctor replied, 'he doesn't have any ailment which needs urgent treatment and, perhaps, if we're fortunate, his own body will finally teach him a thing or two about improving his self control.'

Ryosuke was shocked to hear the contentment in his father's voice. He was about to say something else when his father spotted one of his many acquaintances and, with his usual commanding tone, he said:

'Come on, son,' then without giving time for Ryosuke to reply, the doctor added, 'Hojo-kun, I hope to see more of you and your lovely fiancée later on, in the mean time, please enjoy the party.'

'We will,' Rin promised then, speaking to Ryosuke, he added, 'I need to speak to you so, please come and find me after you've fulfilled your hosting duties.'

Even though Rin had asked him please, Ryosuke still felt like he'd just been given an order, for this reason he didn't immediately reply but by the time he opened his mouth to do so, he heard his father saying:

'He will, don't worry.'

With this, Sousuke Takahashi walked away from them, clearly expecting his son to follow him.

'I'll see you later,' Ryosuke said to Rin and Kaori before going after his father.

Very soon he found himself in the hotel's biggest and most luxurious room, surrounded by people who were supposed to be there to celebrate his birthday but, in reality, cared only about establishing a firmer connection with the Takahashi Medical Group as well as increasing their network of contacts. For once though, Ryosuke didn't care about how fake the whole thing was. He was too worried about too many things to leave space to anything else.

One of the sources of his concern was currently looking a tad better, chatting up one of the girls who worked behind the well assorted bar, probably hoping that if he got in her good graces, she'd serve him alcohol despite being underage. Ryosuke was about to walk towards his younger brother when, out of nowhere, Rin appeared right in front of him.

'Hey,' the older man said, 'did you forget what I said?'

'Hojo-senpai,' Ryosuke started, 'please excuse me, I need to…'

'You've been avoiding me,' Rin suddenly declared.

'I have not,' Ryosuke countered.

'Yes, you have,' Rin insisted, 'ever since that race in Mt Usui and I'd like to know if there's a reason for that.'

'Hojo-senpai, I…' Ryosuke started then, he glanced over at the bar and to his astonishment he saw that both Keisuke and the girl were gone. Feeling even more urgency to go after his younger brother, he tried again, 'I have not been avoiding you, I've just been…'

'It doesn't matter,' Rin interrupted him, 'because I have great news for you.'

That made him temporarily forget about Keisuke and, instead, he looked at Rin and asked:

'What is it?'

'Not here,' Rin replied, he then took him by one of his arms forcing him to walk away from the bar and towards one of the large French windows which lead to a grand terrace where one could find little, perfectly trimmed trees that were currently decorated with tiny lights creating a very romantic atmosphere. Ryosuke didn't feel any of it; instead, he felt his wariness mounting up to a whole new level.

'Alright,' Rin said once they reached a much quieter area, near a large stony staircase, 'as you know,' he continued, 'I've been helping my brother Tsuyoshi selecting members for his street racing team.'

'Yes, I know that,' Ryosuke confirmed.

'Well,' Rin added, 'while scouting for decent enough drivers, I've had this…let's call it revelation. You see, I finally figured out what makes us two different from guys like my brother and the reason why we can't just be part of a random street racing team.'

'And why is that?' Ryosuke asked more to humour him than anything.

'Ryosuke,' Rin said, 'my brother Tsuyoshi, his friends, and most of the people that are involved in street racing are doing it mostly for the fun of it and perhaps, like Tomizawa, to satisfy their own overgrown ego.'

Hearing that, it took all of Ryosuke's already overworked willpower not to reply to that.

'But that's them,' an unaware Rin carried on, 'in our case, we're different.'

'Are we?' Ryosuke nearly challenged.

'Yes, we are,' Rin replied, 'you see, the reason why I like pushing my car to the limit is because it's the one thing that truly makes me feel alive. I feel freer than I do while doing anything else and, even though I have to fulfil my filial duties, I also know that I will always feel this way when I get behind the steering wheel of my car and I know for a fact that you feel the same exact way, don't you Ryosuke?'

The younger man could only bring himself to nod.

'This is the reason why I've picked you as a partner for my project,' Rin said next.

'What project?' Ryosuke managed to ask.

'Oh, yes,' Rin said grinning at him, 'I'm sorry, I was just so excited about it that I forgot to explain it to you.'

'Hojo-senpai…'

'See,' Rin continued, 'I've been thinking that in the future I really won't have time to carry on with my racing activities and Tsuyoshi soon will be busy with his own team, I wanted to do what Todou-san's doing with his racing school only at a much smaller scale.'

'What do you mean?' Ryosuke dared to ask.

'I too want to have someone I can call my successor,' Rin replied.

Ryosuke could not believe what he was hearing. Not only because Rin had just compared himself with an accomplished ex-professional racer but, what was even worse, Ryosuke found it more than a little unsettling that Rin thought of him as his protégé, when Ryosuke had never considered himself to be anything like that.

'So,' Rin said interrupting Ryosuke's musings, 'what do you think?'

'Well…I…' he hesitated then, after taking a moment to buy himself some time, he continued, 'I'm not sure if I could be a suitable candidate for the sort of project you've got in mind. I, for one, lack experience…'

'I know that,' Rin said laughing softly, 'but don't worry about it. My idea is that you and I will travel around the most challenging passes both here in Gunma as well as in other prefectures. We would organise races and time attacks with other racers and this way together we would build up a strong enough reputation for me to be able to retire and leave everything in your hands.'

'But…'

'You don't need to answer me now,' Rin said, 'in fact, I want you to take your time thinking about it.'

'Alright,' Ryosuke accepted, 'but, I…'

'You should go back to your party now,' Rin practically ordered, 'after all, your father's been kind enough to overlook the whole incident with your girlfriend, it wouldn't be wise to test his patience any further.'

This time Ryosuke didn't bother to hide his surprise hearing those words. He was about to reply when he saw his father and one of his associates stepping out on the terrace, very obviously looking for him.

'I told you…' Rin half-whispered giving him an insufferable know-it-all smile.

Taking a deep breath, one which would hopefully prevent him from speaking his mind, Ryosuke proceeded to walk to where his father was, without even bothering to check whether Rin was following him or not.

For the next hour or so he was kept too busy greeting new arrivals, speaking to people he barely knew and discussing the same old boring but safe enough subjects to even think of the amount of issues that had piled up on his plate ever since that disastrous evening had started. He only managed to catch a break when one of the matrons she was talking to asked him to excuse her while she went on to powder her nose.

With his usual fake smile on, Ryosuke told her that he would go and refresh their drinks and that made him remember about Keisuke and the waitress. Both were still missing from the room and while that wasn't all that alarming (Ryosuke was more than used to Keisuke's lady-killer ways) what was disturbing was the fact that Keisuke had never been in such a bad shape before. Sure, the kid had been involved in more than his fair share of fights but Ryosuke had never seen him looking so bruised and so badly hangover before.

Checking around the room, he saw that his father and mother were talking to a couple of their friends while Rin seemed entertained by a conversation with one of the three members of the parliament that had been invited to Ryosuke's twentieth birthday party. Seeing the coast clear, Ryosuke decided to try and make it back into the lobby so that he could try and find Keisuke and, with a bit of luck, a quiet place where he could use his new mobile phone to call Erika. Ryosuke had almost made it to the door when…

'Hi,' Kaori said offering him one of her best smiles.

'Hello,' Ryosuke forced himself to reply.

'Going somewhere?' she asked him, pointing with her head towards the exit.

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied, 'I'm looking for my brother, he's…'

'Oh, I've seen him,' Kaori interrupted him, 'he went upstairs with a girl. I think she was wearing the hotel's uniform…'

'Yeah,' Ryosuke said, 'I saw him earlier with that same girl, I…'

'I wouldn't want to interrupt them, if I were you,' Kaori suggested.

'I…'

'But I would go and call your girlfriend,' she added.

Once again, Ryosuke had the distinct impression that Kaori could actually read his mind and, as it usually happened whenever he was with her for longer than five seconds, he started feeling a little freaked out.

'I do owe you an apology though,' Kaori continued, seemingly unaware of the effect she had on him.

'Why?' Ryosuke somehow managed to ask.

'I…' she started then, looked like she was trying to rephrase her words and tried again, 'it wasn't my place to announce your relationship status with Irie-san in front of your father. He didn't know about it, did he?'

For the umpteenth time that evening, Ryosuke didn't know what to say. To someone like him, who prided himself in keeping his thoughts in perfect order at all times, having to deal with such disorganised whirlpool of emotions was more than he could chew. He really needed to get out of there and fast...alas, the staff in charge of the catering chose that very moment to get the massive cake Ryosuke's mother had commissioned to celebrate her son's coming-of-age.

'Oh…it's so beautiful!' he somehow heard Kaori say.

He barely glanced at the sickeningly amount of white icing covering a probably too sweet sponge and, instead, he found himself enthralled by the almost child-like way in which the girl's face lit up while admiring the cake's overly decorated surface. He had to force himself to stop staring at her when he noticed that he had suddenly become the centre of everyone else's attention.

'Happy Birthday, son,' his mother said offering him one of her rare, genuine smiles.

'You're finally an adult, now,' was the best his father could do.

Soon, Ryosuke found himself guided to stand in front of the twenty candles on top of the cake and, feeling more than a little idiotic, he pretended to make the customary wish before blowing all the candles out. This, of course, provoked a round of applause and soon everyone renewed their birthday wishes to him.

It took nearly another hour before Ryosuke freed himself from yet another round of polite chit-chat and, this time, he made sure no one could interrupt his escape by hurrying out of the room more than was decent. He then made a bee line towards the hotel's exit and didn't stop walking until he found himself in the only semi-lit car park where, finding the nearest wall, he leant against it and pulled the chunky Panasonic phone out of the inner pocket of his formal jacket.

Pressing the keys to compose Erika's home number as fast as he could, he quickly checked the time in his watch: nearly ten o'clock in the evening; a little too late but not a preposterous time to call someone's home.

'Hello?' a lady's voice answered the phone, Erika's mother.

'Good evening, Irie-san,' Ryosuke said, 'it's Takahashi, I wonder if I could please speak to your daughter.'

'Oh…' he heard her gasping, it wasn't a positive gasp, he noticed, 'sweetheart...I….' she stopped speaking for a brief moment during which Ryosuke had the distinct impression the woman was talking to someone else then, almost confirming his suspicions, Irie-san said, 'I'm sorry but Erika's gone to bed.'

Worst lie ever, Ryosuke thought.

'Alright,' he said nonetheless, 'I'll try in the morning.'

'That's a good idea,' Irie-san replied.

'Have a nice evening,' Ryosuke said.

'You too,' the lady replied.

His heart sinking, he pressed the button to finish the call. Ryosuke wished he would feel surprised at the fact that Erika didn't want to speak to him but he knew his friend well enough to know that he could hardly expect otherwise, not after what he'd done, of what he was still doing. With a guilty pang, he realised that he had not made any efforts in the course of the evening to clear the misunderstanding; not with his father, not with Rin and most especially, not with Kaori.

Without giving himself the time to think too much about the reasons behind his abnormal behaviour, Ryosuke walked back towards the hotel and into the ball room where, to his surprise, he found Rin and Kaori looking like they were ready to leave.

'She's not feeling well,' Rin announced.

'What's wrong with her?' Ryosuke asked, hoping he didn't sound anywhere near as worried as he felt.

'It's nothing,' she brushed it off, 'I'm just a little dizzy, that's all.'

'I'll take her home so that she can rest,' Rin explained, 'we're sorry we have to leave early.'

'It's fine,' Ryosuke said then, daring to look at Kaori in the face, he added, 'please take care of yourself.'

'I will,' Kaori promised, 'and, again, I'm sorry about earlier…I…'

'It's fine,' he repeated, interrupting her as gently as he could.

'Think about what I told you, okay?' Rin then reminded him.

'I will,' Ryosuke said, 'I promise,' he felt the need to add.

Watching them leave made him feel so washed with relief that he immediately felt guilty about it which only increased the amount of remorse he still felt for not having told them the truth about Erika. All things considered, it was nothing short of a miracle that he made it to the end of the party with his sanity more or less intact but, the instant it was all over, at nearly midnight, he found himself racing towards his FC, rushing so much he barely stopped to thank his parents for making the effort to throw him a birthday party.

Ryosuke only remembered about Keisuke when he reached the bottom of the Kasuo Pass, he stopped right there in the middle of the empty road, briefly considering if he should go back to the Washington Plaza Hotel to try and find him when, something inside him made him re-enter the first gear so that he could keep driving on. Taking it easy for the first run uphill, Ryosuke limited himself with memorising the road's layout, already mapping it in his mind, pinpointing all the details which he could see and feel while guiding the FC up the increasingly steeper road. Once at the top, he stopped the rotary engine and, taking the small notebook that he kept in the glove compartment, he started writing down everything his brain had just absorbed.

When he finished doing that, he took a look at the portion of tarmac he could see with the help of the FC's headlights. Ahead there was a part of the pass which was uncharted to him, one that he knew for a fact that was never used during the races since it was deemed to be too dangerous. Ryosuke knew that this alone should discourage him from even thinking about what, he knew, his body had already decided to do but, not for the first time that evening, he chose to pay more attention to his instinct than his rationale.

'Heck,' he muttered to no one in particular, 'it's my birthday after all.'

Turning the engine back on, he pressed the clutch, punched the first gear in and then, gently at first, he let the FC roll down the hill. He didn't even have to wait for the first corner, a terribly sharp left-hander, to see for himself the reason why no one raced there. The tarmac's surface was, at best, extremely bumpy, at worse, full of holes, sometimes concealed by the leaves falling from the roadside trees.

In spite of the danger, Ryosuke let himself enjoy the ride and very soon he started pushing the Mazda, asking his beloved machine to give him as much as it dared; challenging the suspensions, brakes and tyres well beyond their limit. Within just a few corners, he stopped caring about anything and just let himself feel the very sensation Rin himself had described to the letter: he felt free; absolutely and totally free.

When he reached the bottom of the pass, with simply no idea of where he was, he decided to just keep driving until he would find one of the major roads. He just drove, and drove and drove until he saw something on the dashboard with made him feel rather upset: the fuel reserve light had just come on.

It was time to go home, preferrably via the nearest petrol station!

The morning after, and without having got more than a couple of hours of sleep, Ryosuke got up from his bed, took a quick shower and put on a pair of smart beige trousers and a light blue shirt. He grabbed his dark blue jacket and took the keys to his FC along with a leather bag containing a few books. Walking into the kitchen, to his surprise he found Keisuke, still dressed in the same clothes he'd worn to the party.

'Good morning,' Ryosuke said, 'just got home?'

Keisuke looked up at him over a large glass of water he was sipping and gave him a nod.

'Had a fun night?' Ryosuke asked.

Keisuke just shrugged.

'Are you okay?'

'I guess,' he finally replied. Ryosuke noticed his voice sounded really rough, as though he'd been shouting.

'Is there anything you…'

'Not in the mood, Aniki,' Keisuke interrupted him.

'Keisuke, I'm…'

'…worried about me, I know,' Keisuke finished, 'no need, I'll be fine.'

'Keisuke…'

'I'm off to bed,' he said instead.

'Keisuke, look at this,' Ryosuke tried again, this time pulling his Panasonic phone out of his bag, 'I…'

'Where did you get that?' Keisuke asked him.

'I got it from our parents,' Ryosuke explained, 'for my birthday.'

'Of course,' Keisuke said, suddenly glaring at the poor phone.

'I'm planning on getting another one,' Ryosuke announced.

'Why?' an astonished Keisuke asked, 'what's wrong with this one?'

'Nothing,' Ryosuke replied, 'but I want you to have one too.'

This time, Keisuke couldn't find anything to say.

'I know you're…fine,' Ryosuke continued, 'but I will feel better if I know you can get in touch with me regardless of where you are. I trust you'll like this same model, it's very functional and quite easy to use.'

'But, Aniki,' Keisuke said, 'they're really expensive, I've seen them on TV and at the shops and…'

'Keisuke,' Ryosuke interrupted him, 'as far as I'm concerned, your wellbeing has no price, never forget that.'

Keisuke frowned a bit then, probably feeling a little embarrassed, he just pretended to scratch his nose and, half mumbling, he said something which sounded like a _thank you_ mixed with _I'm tired, I'm off to bed_.

Feeling a little better, Ryosuke ate his breakfast as quickly as he could and, within a few minutes, he was sitting back behind the FC's steering wheel. Before he set off, he pulled the phone out of his bag and, taking a deep breath, he pressed the re-dial button that would call Erika's home.

'Hello?' Irie-san replied.

'Good morning,' Ryosuke said feeling a slight sense of déjà vu, 'is Erika there?'

'Takahashi-san,' the lady replied, 'I'm sorry but you've just missed her.'

'I see,' Ryosuke said, 'well, I'll try again later.'

'Sweetie,' Irie-san said, 'I don't know what happened but, if you want for me to take a message…'

'No, it's quite alright,' Ryosuke said politely, 'I just need to talk to your daughter.'

'I'll make sure she knows that,' Irie-san said, 'you're such a fine young man and I would feel bad if she…well, let's just say that I quite like you.'

'Thank you, ma'am,' Ryosuke said feeling rather embarrassed, 'I'll better go now.'

'You have a nice day,' Erika's mother said.

'You too,' Ryosuke replied hurrying to close the call.

Placing the phone on top of his bag, he turned the car's engine on and, while he rolled the FC down the lane, he started thinking that, at this rate, there would not be a single one of their acquaintances who would not think he and Erika were an item; he could only imagine how unimpressed the future veterinarian would be if she ever found out that even her own mother was rooting for them.

Ryosuke had just finished that thought when, right at the bottom of his family home's lane he saw a very familiar Suzuki Cappuccino parked there with its owner standing right beside it looking anything but happy; this, of course, made him slam the brakes of the FC in a way which would have made Shuichi cry.

'Erika!' he exclaimed while snatching the seatbelt open, rushing to get out of his car as quickly as possible.

'Good morning,' the girl said, using such a detached tone of voice that it made Ryosuke swallow hard.

'Erika, I've…'

'Wait,' Erika ordered, 'I'm not sure why I'm here. I guess I am quite masochistic and I think I'm also rather curious to figure out the reason why you lied to that poor girl telling her that I'm your girlfriend...'

'Erika,' Ryosuke tried again.

'…I've also had a full night to calm down,' she carried on, completely ignoring Ryosuke, 'and I think that I can now hear your explanation without wanting to give you the slap you've more than earned.'

This time Ryosuke didn't even bother to speak, he just nodded and waited for her permission to talk.

'So,' she said, 'go on, you've got five minutes.'

'Five?' Ryosuke asked, lifting his eyebrows in surprise.

'Five,' she confirmed this time tapping the glass of her own wristwatch, 'and if you don't hurry, it'll be four and three quarters.'

'Okay,' Ryosuke said, 'I…,' he stopped speaking, trying to gather his thoughts then, he decided to go for the plain truth, 'I don't really know why I told her you were my girlfriend.'

'I think you do,' Erika countered.

'No, I don't,' Ryosuke insisted, 'listen, I know that what I did was quite appalling but…'

'Appalling?' Erika asked sounding surprised and sarcastic at the same time, 'I…'

'You've given me five minutes,' Ryosuke reminded her, 'yet you're not even letting me speak.'

'Of course I won't let you speak,' Erika said angrily, 'not if you're going to spew yet another lie!'

'I'm not lying,' Ryosuke said, he was beginning to get mad himself.

'Yes you are,' Erika insisted, 'do you want to know the reason why I'm so upset?' she asked then without giving him time to answer, she replied, 'with me, you preached honesty. You told me I had to be true to myself and not try to repress the feelings I still have for Kazuma-kun, yet, you're unable to do the same!'

'Erika…'

'What's even more upsetting,' she continued, 'is that you haven't even taken the time to really think of what you feel about this girl, have you?'

'I…'

'For some reason,' Erika interrupted him, 'you have decided that you don't want to know how you feel about her and, it looks to me that you're so terrified that you'll find yourself in love with her that you aren't even open to the possibility that you might just care about her as a friend and nothing more.'

Ryosuke chose to remain quiet while his brain processed all of that.

'Ryouske,' Erika said, 'I came here this morning because I wanted an explanation but I can see now that you can't give me one because you simply have no idea of what you want from this girl, do you?'

He simply shook his head.

'I know it's scary,' Erika said, 'I know that if you think about it and you find that you are in love with her you won't know what to do with yourself but, let me ask you this: are you really prepared to live with yourself and this uncertainty for the rest of your life?'

'No,' Ryosuke replied, 'but…'

'Look,' she continued, 'if you just care about her, you might even end up being friends, just as we are.'

'What if I figure out that I am in love with her?' Ryosuke asked her.

'Then you'll have to figure out if you want her more than you want to preserve your friendship with her fiancé,' Erika said, 'or, alternatively, you might choose not to act on your feelings.'

'That's what you're doing right now,' Ryosuke pointed out, 'and it's not like it's making you happy, is it?'

'No, it's not,' Erika admitted, 'but at least I have made a choice. That's more than you can say, isn't it?'

Once again, he remained in silence.

'Give yourself a chance,' Erika asked him, 'think about what you really feel for Kaori-san and, after you've figured it out, we'll take it from there. Just promise me that you'll tell the poor girl I am NOT your girlfriend.'

'I…'

'Promise me,' Erika insisted, looking more determined than ever.

'Alright,' Ryosuke said, 'I'll try.'

'Try?' Erika asked.

'I know is a lot to ask and even harder for you to understand,' Ryosuke replied, 'but I really need her to believe we're together. I…I'm not even sure why but I have a really bad feeling about her…about what she'll do if she finds out that I've lied to her about us.'

Erika stared at him for a few moments then, visibly giving in, she said:

'Alright, but don't take forever to figure out what you feel about her. You know how much I hate being part of this sort of games.'

'I know,' Ryosuke confirmed, 'and thank you.'

'Ryosuke,' she said shaking her in defeat, 'I am really worried about you.'

'I know,' he repeated, 'I'm worried too.'

Erika's lips curled up a bit in the tiniest of smiles.

'You're incorrigible, you know that, right?'

'I have had that suspicion for a while,' Ryosuke said, daring to return the smile.

'I have to go now,' Erika said quickly glancing at her watch, 'I'll see you on Wednesday, they're showing "13 Assassins", aren't they?'

'That's correct,' Ryosuke replied.

'Pick me up at seven?' she asked

'I will,' a much happier Ryosuke replied.

Climbing back into the FC, he watched the too careless way in which Erika did a U-turn on the road. He also observed that the future veterinarian was way too rough on the clutch and that every time she shifted gears, the car shuddered a little. Widening his smile, he made a mental note to try and teach her the correct way to use the car's pedals. For now, he had to hurry too or he'd be late for his first lecture of the week.

When less than fifteen minutes later he arrived at the Gunma Medical School, Ryosuke saw Rin's silver GA61 dropping Kaori before hastily driving off. Ryosuke felt a little surprised that Rin hadn't even seen the FC but that was nothing in comparison to the shock he felt when he saw, even through his Mazda's windscreen, that Kaori had clearly been crying and was now doing her best to wipe the tears off her beautiful face.

For this reason, Ryosuke took his time to park his car, giving her the space she needed to regain her composure. He only got out of the car when he was absolutely sure she was in control of herself.

'Good morning,' he said trying to sound as normal as he did while he was around her.

'Hi,' Kaori replied.

'Is everything alright?' he dared to ask.

'Yeah,' she tried then, she decided to be honest, 'no…not really.'

For a brief moment, he felt the usual need to flee as fast as he could then, remembering the conversation he'd just had with Erika, he looked at Kaori and, before he could change his mind, he asked her:

'Do you want to talk about it?'

Kaori looked so stunned that it made Ryosuke instantly regret what he'd said but, before he could even think, he saw her nodding once.

'I'd love to,' she said.

_To be continued…_


	20. Chapter Nineteen

A/N: No, you're not dreaming. I have finally updated my story! Sorry it took so long *bows* but several things happened that made me think I couldn't continue this story the way I wanted to but, with Fifth Stage coming up in November, it's an excellent incentive for me to try and finish it before the first two episodes of the new series air. To be honest, I'm not sure if I'll manage but, I'll do my best, I promise!

And now, on with the story:

**Planetarium**

_Chapter Nineteen_

Forgetting all about their lectures, Ryosuke opened the FC's passenger door and helped Kaori climb into the car, gently closing the door for her. He then walked around his Mazda and, by the time he made it back behind the steering wheel, to his horror, he noticed that Kaori had started crying once again.

'Where do you want to go?' he tried asking her.

All the response he got was an almost imperceptible shrug of her shoulders.

'Alright,' he continued, 'let's go to the lake.'

Once again, silence met his words and, while he drove them out of the campus car park, the only thing he could hear was the occasional very soft sniffing coming from the passenger seat. Ryosuke felt quite useless for he really didn't know what to do or say that could make Kaori stop crying. He could only hope that the fifteen minute drive to the top of Mt Akagi would be enough for her to calm down a bit.

Thankfully, he was partially right and, when he parked his car at their usual parking area by the lake's shore, he saw that, while Kaori was no longer crying, she still looked utterly devastated. For this reason, he decided to wait in silence until she would be ready to talk.

'I'm sorry,' she finally said with the smallest voice.

'No need to be,' he replied.

'I just…' she tried then, shaking her head she covered her face with her hands and her previously silent weep turned into a rather loud sobbing.

'Kaori-san,' Ryosuke said trying not to panic, 'why don't you tell me what's happened?'

'I…' he heard her say, her voice muffled by her own hands. Ryosuke tried to find some encouraging words when, to his surprise, she uncovered her face and, with a voice loaded with sorrow, she said, 'I hate him!'

Ryosuke was so taken aback he couldn't even ask if it was Rin the person she hated. It turned out he didn't need to speak, for Kaori was helpful enough to finally start talking:

'I've always known that he was controlling, everyone who knows him is aware of that, even you,' Ryosuke chose not to say anything to that and let her continue instead, 'but I never suspected that he would be so mad as to let me get into medical school and study all four years of it without letting me become a doctor.'

'What?' Ryosuke finally spoke, 'what do you mean by that?'

'What you heard,' Kaori replied looking, if possible, even more distraught.

'But…'

'I was telling him this morning about this new children hospital in Kanagawa…'

'Wait a moment,' Ryosuke asked her, 'what do you mean that Hojo-senpai won't allow you to become a doctor?

'Precisely that,' Kaori replied, 'you know that my dream has always been to become a paediatrician, right?'

'Yes, I know that,' Ryosuke confirmed.

'Well,' Kaori said, 'Hojo-san also knew that but, apparently, he was only humouring me. He has never had any intention of letting me work after we get married and, of course, his idea is that we get married as soon as he's done with his residency and gets a full time job at his father's hospital.'

'But that's in less than two years,' Ryosuke observed.

'I know,' Kaori said.

'You should start your residency by then,' Ryosuke said.

'Well, that's never going to happen,' she countered miserably 'not if Hojo-san has his way.'

Ryosuke felt shocked beyond words and also more than a little disgusted. Studying medicine was no joke and, making someone go through the four years of medical school for absolutely no reason was so irrational that he found himself agreeing with Kaori's diagnosis: Rin had to be crazy for him to force her to do just that.

'Kaori-san,' he said, 'would you want to go and get some coffee?'

'I'd rather have something stronger, if you don't mind,' the girl replied.

'Isn't it a bit early for that?' he asked her.

'I'm not driving, am I?' she insisted.

That was true so, not saying anything else Ryosuke unfastened his seatbelt and climbed out of the car, helping Kaori out of it feeling grateful that while the girl's eyes looked puffed up, she was no longer crying.

'Let's go,' he said.

A few moments later the two of them were sitting in front of a bar in an almost deserted locale. Again, it was only ten o'clock in the morning and all the customers would probably rush in during lunch time.

'I'll have some coffee, please,' he said to the bartender, a short man in his mid-forties.

'I'll have a whiskey on the rocks,' Kaori said shocking the poor bartender.

'Are you sure, ma'am?' the man asked her while visibly stealing a glance at the clock.

'Yes, I am sure,' Kaori said.

'Fair enough,' he replied but, just as he turned to prepare the drinks, he gave Ryosuke a dirty look as if he was blaming him for allowing her to drink so early in the morning. Ryosuke chose to ignore him and, instead, focused his attention back on Kaori.

'What are you going to do about Hojo-senpai?'

'No idea,' she said, 'I was kind of hoping you could tell me.'

Ryosuke's reply got halted by the bartender who, placing a steaming cup of coffee in front of him, he made a very obvious effort so Ryosuke would notice the larger than usual amount of ice in the glass of whiskey he set in front of Kaori, again, judging him and sending him a message that said: if you don't care, at least I do.

Once again, Ryosuke ignored the man.

'To be honest,' he said instead to Kaori, 'I'm not even sure how I can help.'

Kaori took a large gulp of her watery whiskey and putting the glass back down, she just shook her head.

'I know it's a lot to ask…' she started.

'I take you've tried talking to Hojo-senpai about your dreams,' he interrupted her.

'Of course I have,' she replied, 'you know that I have.'

'Yes, I do,' he said, 'but what I meant to say is, does he know how serious you are about them?'

'What do you mean?' Kaori asked him.

'I might be talking out of place,' he explained, 'but maybe he thinks your becoming a paediatrician is nothing but a whim of yours. He probably doesn't understand how serious about it you are and how much it would hurt you if you weren't allowed to fulfil this dream of yours.'

'You seriously believe what you're saying?' she wondered, Ryosuke didn't like the slightly patronising way in which she looked at him, as if she thought he was being too naïve. Again, he probably was but he still had to try and defend his point:

'I know it's a long shot…'

'It's mission impossible,' Kaori interrupted him, 'once Hojo-san has made his mind up about something, that's that and there's nothing anyone can do to make him change his mind. Not even I can, you know that.'

Ryosuke knew that very well for this description sounded so much like his own father that it was scary. Thinking about this made him, at long last, fully understand Kaori's predicament for, in more than one way, it mirrored his own: both were having their entire existence piloted and neither were able to do anything about it. This made Ryosuke so angry at Rin that it forced him to say:

'Look, I don't know if there's anything I can do to help but, for all it's worth, I can be here to support you.'

'You can?' Kaori asked him looking positively startled.

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied, 'I won't let anyone make you cry like this again. If my being here for you helps you get a smile back on your face, then I'll gladly do it.'

Kaori's face lit up and, just then, she cracked up the brightest of smiles while she said:

'Thank you, I knew you wouldn't let me down!'

Ryosuke nodded to that and then, he glanced at the whiskey and, returning the smile, he said:

'Let's forget about that and let's go for a drive instead.'

'Won't your girlfriend mind?' she asked him.

Ryosuke felt the usual guilty pang having to continue the farce but forgot all about it when he noticed the bartender clearly eavesdropping in their conversation. The man, this time, glared at Ryosuke before going to prepare their bill, clearly indicating that he wanted this adulterous, alcoholic enabler out of his bar.

'Let's just go,' Ryosuke said placing a couple of banknotes on top of the bar.

'Okay,' a much happier Kaori replied.

Ryosuke smirked when, opening the door for Kaori, he saw the bartender picking up the money as if it were contaminated, quickly throwing it into the cashier, closing the poor thing with a little too much impetus.

'Where should we go?' he then heard Kaori ask.

'Wherever you want,' Ryosuke replied.

'Alright,' Kaori said, 'let's go to the beach!'

'The beach?' Ryosuke asked her, 'are you serious?'

'Of course,' she said then, pouting a little, she said, 'you did say we could go wherever I wanted.'

'True,' he admitted then, nodding once, he said, 'alright, let's go.'

Kaori's smile widened so much that, excepting the red and puffy eyes, no one would have thought she was crying inconsolably less than fifteen minutes ago. In a way, Ryosuke was happy to see her recovering but, the speed at which she had gone from one extreme to the other was more than a tad unsettling.

The following Wednesday and just as he had promised her, Ryosuke drove to the Irie residence to pick Erika up so that the two could go and watch "13 Assassins" at their usual cinema. As always, Erika was already waiting for him, ready to climb into the car the moment he stopped it in front of the house.

'Hello,' she said fastening her seatbelt, 'how are you?'

'Not bad,' he said while he entered first gear, 'yourself?'

'Never better,' she said.

'That's good to hear,' he said, 'listen, I followed your advice and I did some thinking regarding Kaori-san.'

'And what did you find out?' Erika asked him as gently as she could.

'I'm not in love with her,' he replied.

'Okay,' Erika said, 'then, what is it that you feel for her?'

'I care about her,' he admitted, 'and I don't want anything bad to her.'

'Okay,' she repeated.

'But it's not love,' Ryosuke continued.

'Then what is it?' Erika asked him.

'If I were to compare it to something,' he replied, 'I would compare it to how I feel about Keisuke.'

'Wait,' Erika said, 'you DO love your brother, don't you?'

'Of course,' Ryosuke hurried to say, 'I don't think I explained myself correctly,' he then added, 'when I say that the way I feel about Kaori-san is like the way I feel about Keisuke is just that I care about what happens to them but I have zero romantic feelings towards them. Does that make sense to you?'

'I think it does,' Erika said, 'what you're saying is that you see Kaori-san as a sister.'

'Well, that's a bit too much,' Ryosuke said, 'it's complicated to explain but something about her makes me want to take care for her, to make sure she doesn't have to go through more than she can handle.'

'Ah, okay,' Erika said, 'I think I know what you mean.'

'You do?' Ryosuke asked her sounding surprised, 'because I have a hard time understanding it myself.'

'Well,' Erika said, 'I understand the way you're comparing Kaori-san with your brother but I don't think it's because you have the same sibling-like feelings for her as you do for Keisuke. If you think about it, your brother and Kaori-san do have one thing in common.'

'And that is?' Ryosuke asked her.

'Both can get themselves into a lot of trouble,' Erika replied quite simply.

'You're right,' Ryosuke said chuckling softly.

'And while you usually let Keisuke deal with his own problems on his own, you still like to keep an eye on him in case he needs your help,' Erika continued, 'I think that's the way you feel about Kaori-san too.'

'Exactly,' Ryosuke said feeling relieved that Erika had understood everything so well.

'But you know,' Erika concluded, 'while it's good of you to keep an eye on both, you shouldn't forget that, at the end of the day, what they do is none of your business.'

'I…'

'Please, don't get me wrong,' Erika asked him, 'I know that you probably consider Keisuke's business very much your own but, he's your brother, not your son. The same is even truer for Kaori-san since she's engaged to be married to Hojo-san and whatever she does it's his business, not yours.'

Ryosuke remained silent for a bit mulling over what Erika had just told him. He then decided to explain to her the conversation he'd had with Kaori just a couple of days before, including his offer to support her.

'Do you think I went over the line?' he asked her at the end.

'Not really,' Erika said, 'just as long as she understands that the support it's just as a friend.'

'I think she does,' he said trying to sound convinced.

'I hope she does,' Erika said, 'also, I hope she doesn't make you become her mental crutch.'

'What do you mean?'

'Some people,' Erika explained, 'use other people's support and use it to fuel their own strength.'

'There's nothing wrong with that,' Ryosuke pointed out.

'There is,' she countered, 'if that prevents them from getting stronger on their own. Don't forget that from what you've mentioned to me, Kaori-san is a pretty fragile person. If she thinks she can just use you as her mental crutch, she'll never make the effort to be strong on her own. Then, your support will just make everything worse.'

'So what am I supposed to do?' Ryosuke asked feeling quite confused.

'Be there for her, if that's what you want,' Erika said, 'but don't let her lean on you for everything. Also, don't even think about interceding with Hojo-san for her.'

'How did…'

'How did I know you were thinking about it?' Erika finished for him, 'I think I'm getting to know you well enough to know you were contemplating the option of talking to Hojo-san about Kaori-san's dreams.'

'I did think about that,' Ryosuke admitted.

'Then don't,' Erika almost ordered him.

'Erika…'

'Ryosuke,' she stopped her again, 'this issue is between the two of them. You can support Kaori-san all you want but you shouldn't meddle in their relationship problems since they are definitely none of your business.'

Once again, Ryosuke remained quiet while thinking about what Erika was telling him.

'Say,' she continued, 'how would you feel if I went to your father and told him that you'd prefer being a professional racer instead of taking over your family's business?'

'I wouldn't like that,' Ryosuke admitted, 'not to mention that it would be useless even if you did. And that's exactly the problem Kaori-san's having with Hojo-senpai. He, just like my father, will never listen to her.'

'That's too bad then,' Erika said quite mercilessly, 'but again, there's nothing you can do. Like you just said yourself, if I talked to your father about your dreams it would be as useless as if you did with Hojo-san regarding Kaori-san's, don't you agree?'

'Yes. Unfortunately, I do,' Ryosuke said.

'I'm sorry to tell you all of those things,' Erika said with a very soft tone of voice.

'Don't be,' Ryosuke said, 'it's what I needed to hear. It's amazing how you get things into perspective.'

'I'm just looking at it from outside,' Erika said, 'it's easy to be objective when you're not involved.'

'I guess you're right,' Ryosuke said.

'Listen,' she said, 'speaking of involvements, does Kaori-san still think I'm your girlfriend?'

Ryosuke cringed a bit and, while he busied himself parking the car in front of the cinema, he nodded once.

'Sorry, I still haven't been able to tell her the truth.'

'Alright,' Erika accepted, 'I guess right now it's not the best timing but, please make sure you clear things up with her as soon as possible.'

'Would it be such a bad thing if I didn't?' Ryosuke asked her out of the blue.

'What do you mean?' Erika asked him looking confused.

'If we just…'

'Don't say it,' Erika stopped him understanding what he was trying to say.

'I'm just saying…'

'I know what you're saying,' Erika said, 'but don't you think your life is complicated enough as it is?'

'Yes but…'

'Not to mention that, as awfully tempting as you are, I'm not ready for another relationship just yet.'

'Will you ever be?' he dared to ask.

'To be frank,' she said dejectedly, 'I don't really know.'

'I'm sorry to hear that,' Ryosuke said.

'Watch it,' Erika said making an effort to get her smile back on her face, 'you shouldn't tease girls like that!'

'Me, tease?' Ryosuke asked rising his eyebrows in mock shock, 'I would never.'

'I'm sure you wouldn't,' Erika replied humorously, 'now, let's go Casanova, the movie's about to start.'

While he locked the FC, Ryosuke shook his head in disbelief. He was stunned by the end of his conversation with Erika and tried to figure out if he had ever contemplated a romantic relationship with the girl before today. He chose to believe that it had just been a slip and that he hadn't really meant anything by it. In any case, Erika was right: his life was complicated enough as it was and the last thing he wanted to do was to ruin his friendship with the future veterinarian. That, however, did not stop him from feeling more than a little flattered that Erika found him, as she put it, awfully tempting.

'Ryosuke?' he heard the girl say, 'are you alright?'

'Yes, I am,' he said smiling at her, 'let's go.'

Three days later, on Saturday 29th May and as they had agreed during the race in Mt Usui, Ryosuke and Hiroshi drove on the old provincial road that connected Gunma to the Tochigi prefecture. There, at the intersection with Route 15, the road became the Kasuo Pass, home course of Ryosuke's next rival: Kurebayashi Teru.

As both drivers approached the intersection, they saw a surprisingly large number of cars parked at the bottom of the Pass and an even larger amount of people. Since the race would be a downhill one, Ryosuke guessed they were all Teru's fans and, more than likely, they were getting ready to enjoy another of his wins.

Predictably, they all stopped talking when they saw the white FC. Ryosuke only stopped to allow Hiroshi's AW11 to catch up with him and, getting the window down, he waited for Hiroshi to do the same and said:

'Are you going to be okay in here?'

'Shouldn't you be worried about yourself?' Hiroshi asked him sounding surprised.

Ryosuke didn't grace that with an answer. Instead, he got the window back up and started driving up the road so that he could meet up with his rival. While he did that, he studied the Kasuo Pass for one last time. He had practiced there the night before so the course was still fresh in his memory, starting by the two final corners that led to the widest section of the pass. About half way through, there was a bridge and, from then on, the road's two lanes narrowed into one and that was also the point where the pass got steeper.

And a lot more dangerous.

Ignoring that thought, Ryosuke increased the FC's speed and, a few minutes later, he reached the summit where the road simply disappeared, leaving just a gravel trail that was the start of the many trekking paths that crisscrossed the mountain. Just there, barely lit by the small and rather inefficient set of street lights, Ryosuke saw three cars. He recognised Shoya's green S12 and Teru's light blue AW11 but he had never seen the dark blue JZA70 or its driver, a guy who looked to be not much older than Ryosuke himself.

'Is that him?' Ryosuke heard the Supra's driver asking Teru while he climbed out of the FC.

'Yes, now be quiet,' Teru replied with the same tone of voice Ryosuke would have used with Keisuke, this made him think the two were somehow related. 'Hello there,' Teru said again, this time talking to Ryosuke.

'Hello,' he said back.

'Have you done something else to your car?' Shoya asked him observing the FC with clinical eye.

'Maybe or maybe not,' Ryosuke said rather mysteriously.

'This is going to be fun,' Shoya said offering him one of his brilliant grins.

'Hello!' the third guy said, 'it's nice to meet you!'

'Takahashi,' Teru said, 'please meet my cousin Kitajima Ken.'

'I've been dying to meet you,' the young man said, 'ever since Teru told me you challenged him to a race.'

'Again saying too much,' Teru admonished him, 'please excuse…'

'Hey,' Ken interrupted his older cousin, 'I've just had an idea!'

'Oh dear,' Shoya laughed, 'there we go again…'

'Don't even think about it,' Teru warned him.

'But you said I need practice,' Ken complained then, for some reason, he felt the need to explain to Ryosuke, 'you see, I just got myself this baby and I haven't really raced a lot with it…'

'You haven't raced at all,' Teru pointed out.

'That's right,' Ken admitted sheepishly, 'so,' he said looking at Ryosuke, 'what do you think if you race me?'

'No way,' Shoya said sobering up all of a sudden, 'Takahashi's too good for you.'

Hearing this made Ryosuke feel warm inside.

'Precisely,' Ken insisted then, talking to Teru, he added, 'don't you always tell me that I need to fight strong opponents? This guy here…'

'Takahashi-san,' Teru said, 'his name is Takahashi-san.'

'Alright,' Ken accepted, 'Takahashi-san here is good enough to be worthy of your time so I'd like to race him too.'

'I'm really sorry about this,' Teru said talking to Ryosuke, 'he…'

'It's okay,' Ryosuke interrupted him, 'and, to be honest, I would not say no to get some more practice myself.'

'Again with the modesty,' Shoya complained.

'It's not modesty,' Ryosuke insisted, 'I am very much a newbie when it comes to street racing.'

'See?' Ken said triumphantly, 'he's just like me!'

'You wish,' both Shoya and Teru said at the same time then, Teru said, 'are you sure you don't mind?'

'Not at all,' Ryosuke assured him then, speaking to Ken for the first time, he added, 'where do you race?'

'Er…'

'He doesn't have a home pass yet,' Teru replied for him, 'he lives near Maebashi and he's been training in several of the passes around this area.'

'Including Momiji Line?' Ryosuke asked Ken.

'Sometimes,' the guy said, 'why?'

'I want to race there,' Ryosuke replied.

'That's great then,' Ken said, 'it would be like neutral territory, right?'

'Indeed,' Ryosuke said. He then saw Ken offering him his hand. Ryosuke grasped it with his and, with a handshake, they sealed the deal, 'if you're free, we could meet up on Saturday, three weeks from today.'

'Sure thing,' Ken said finally letting go of Ryosuke's hand.

'Alright,' an increasingly impatient Teru said, 'now that you've got your race, can we get on with mine?

'Sure thing,' Ken repeated looking very pleased, 'I'll drive down to the base to make sure everything's fine.'

'Yes do that,' Teru said looking like he was happy to see his cousin go.

All three of them watched Ken getting on board his brand new Toyota Supra, turning its engine on the instant he was strapped in. Ryosuke felt taken aback hearing the powerful roar coming from the Twin Turbo but he was even more astonished when Ken, as he drove past him, offered a cheeky smile and told him to:

'Do your best!'

'Please forgive him,' Teru said seeing Ryosuke's shocked expression, 'he's just a harmless spoilt little brat. Even though his family is loaded, he obviously hasn't really learned any manners from them.'

'His family?' Ryosuke asked him feeling slightly confused, 'I thought he was your cousin.'

'He is,' Teru said, 'my father's younger sister married into the Kitajima family, who own a couple of factories just outside of Maebashi. For several reasons, my father didn't want to have anything to do with them.'

'But they still ask you to baby-sit Ken,' Shoya added.

'That's not true,' Teru countered, 'anyway, it's a long story and I don't want to bore you with it, let's race.'

'Yes, let's,' Ryosuke agreed.

A couple of minutes to ten o'clock, Ryosuke and Teru lined up for the race. Since the pass was much too narrow to start the race side-by-side, disregarding Teru's complaints, Ryosuke had decided to be the chaser.

He had just finished his pre-race ritual when he saw Shoya crouching by the driver's side of the FC asking him to get the window down. Ryosuke complied and, with a very low tone of voice, the S12 driver said:

'Listen, I know I'm supposed to be neutral for this race but there's something I need to warn you about.'

Ryosuke wasn't sure he wanted to hear it but remained quiet nonetheless.

'Don't trust what you see or you'll lose the race badly,' was Shoya's very cryptic advice.

'Alright,' Ryosuke replied.

'Good luck,' Shoya said getting up, 'when you two are ready, I'll start the countdown.'

'I'm good to go,' Ryosuke said. He then saw Teru giving a thumps up from inside his Toyota and then, Shoya walked to the side of the road, just in front of Ryosuke's FC, raised his fist up in the air and shouted:

'FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE: GO!'

Inserting the first gear as quickly as he could, Ryosuke hurried to get the car moving expecting to lose sight of the light blue AW11 the moment the race started. To his surprise, this didn't happen and, instead, it looked like Teru was taking it easy. Maybe a little too easy, Ryosuke thought watching the older man entering the first of the many hairpin corners that were ahead of them going much slower than necessary.

Refusing to feel confused about this, he concentrated on keeping behind the Toyota so that, whenever the road's width allowed it, he could overtake Teru and hopefully increase the gap between the two cars.

A few corners later, he realised that he was probably being too cautious. In fact, while the two cars negotiatied corner after corner, covering about three quarters of the steeper part of the course, Ryosuke saw that Teru's driving was nowhere near as monstrous as he expected it to be. If anything, it was quite mediocre: the AW11 wasn't being pushed at all and Teru's racing lines were as imprecise as it appeared was the older man's footwork on the pedals. Ryosuke saw him missing the breaking points a couple of times and Teru kept on correcting his trajectory all over the place as if he wasn't sure of what he was doing.

His driving was so messed up that Ryosuke was beginning to be afraid the guy would end up crashing his car and was frankly surprised that an excellent racer like Shoya had lost to such an opponent; this thought reminded Ryosuke of what Shoya had told him before the race and, for the following corners, Ryosuke started wondering the sort of trick Teru would pull off in order to win this race.

Focusing on the road ahead, he saw that somehow they had almost made it to the place where the road's single lane doubled into two. This shocked him a little because he had been paying so much attention to Teru's terrible driving to figure out where they were. Ryosuke found this to be most unsettling and decided that he needed to get ahead of the Toyota as soon as it was humanly possible.

The first opportunity came up when they reached the bridge where the two-lane road started: just as the Toyota entered that bridge, Ryosuke veered towards his right-hand side and, adding pressure onto the throttle, he managed to level with the AW11 and then, with absurd ease, drive ahead and overtake it.

'What the…'

He didn't dare saying anything else because something told him to keep his guard up and, sticking to his plan, Ryosuke started trying to put as much distance between his Mazda and the light blue Toyota focusing his attention on driving the best way he could, keeping his lines clean and doing everything perfectly.

For a fleeting moment, he thought he had succeeded but, to his horror, he saw that somehow Teru was managing to keep the front bumper of his AW11 just a few centimetres away from the FC's rear one and, this distance did not increase at all when Ryosuke started pushing his beloved car making it go even faster.

The tension mounted as they started approaching the final sector of the Kasuo Pass and, at every corner, at every straight, Ryosuke readied himself for the attack he knew was coming up. He even felt a couple of drops of sweat rolling from his forehead onto his cheek and that made him feel even more on edge.

He needed to calm down.

It was very obvious by now what Shoya's warning meant: clearly, what Teru had shown him at the beginning of the race was just a scam. The guy had messed up with his driving on purpose to lure him into some sort of false sense of security. Leaving modesty aside, Ryosuke knew that if Teru had managed to keep up with him while Ryosuke was doing his very best, the driver of the AW11 had to be an awesome racer and it suddenly made sense to Ryosuke the reason why Shoya had been so soundly beaten by Teru.

This thought made Ryosuke grow ever more determined to keep the Toyota firmly behind his Mazda.

He had almost made it when, as they approached the last bridge before the very last two corners, he looked at the FC's rear view mirror to check if the AW11 was still there. To his utmost shock, he saw it wasn't and throwing a frantic look at both sides of the FC, he finally found the Toyota to his right side.

Without giving him the time to react and confirming Ryosuke's worst fears, Teru passed him with one clean, swift move, leaving him stuck behind the AW11 with only two corners to go.

_To be continued..._


	21. Chapter Twenty

A/N: I managed to get another chapter out before I go back to work on Monday. I hope I'll be able to get at least one new chapter every week. I know it's not much but with my chapters getting longer and longer it's the best I can do just now.

Also, it would definitely help if I got some feedback from you guys. So please be as awesome as RenMazda and baldolera and fill in that little window you find at the bottom of this page, ok? Even if you feel that you have nothing to say, your reviews help me think that what I'm doing is worthwhile.

In any case, thanks for reading!

**Planetarium**

_Chapter Twenty_

Watching the light blue AW11 darting ahead of his FC and heading into the penultimate corner, a tight left-hander, sent Ryosuke into such a state of sheer panic that for the briefest of moments, he even considered the possibility of letting go of the accelerator and offer the win to his opponent on a silver plate. After all, Teru had more than earned it.

His body though refused to give up and Ryosuke found his right foot flooring the pedal, increasing the FC's already suicidal pace. Oddly, the car's mechanics didn't complain, if anything, the Mazda seemed to want this victory even more so than Ryosuke himself. Seeing this, Ryosuke made a decision within a split second.

'Let's do it,' he muttered to the FC's steering wheel.

With only two corners to go, it was essential Ryosuke entered the left-hander literally stuck to the AW11's rear bumper. This would also offer the bonus of having the Toyota dealing with most of the wind resistance, creating an aerodynamic void for the FC. Thanks to this, Ryosuke's Mazda managed to keep up with Teru's Toyota until both cars reached the apex of the corner.

There, Ryosuke put his plan in motion: first he veered to the inside, driving so fast and so close to the wall that covered that entire section of the track that for a moment, it looked like he would just crash against it.

As he predicted, Teru also moved to the inside, effectively closing the gap.

It was then when Ryosuke let the FC's tyres slide to the right, heading to the outside of the corner without losing momentum, keeping his foot firmly onto the accelerator and nowhere near the brake pedal. Shifting gears, he levelled with the AW11 placing himself onto its right side, thus forcing both cars to exit the left-hander at the same time.

Everyone at the base could now see the two cars basically driving side-by-side as fast as they could go towards an all-too-solid wall in a deadly game of chicken. Hiroshi was amongst those who found themselves holding their breath when they saw that if the two cars tried to enter the final right-hander that way, their lines would definitely cross and both cars would end up crashing against each other or worse: against the wall.

Fear and tension filled the whole area and they all gasped when they watched the FC getting into a drift right in front of the AW11. Hiroshi wanted to close his eyes but forced them to stay wide open so that he could see the moment when the AW11 braked so hard that smoke came out of the car's tyres, stopping just a couple of centimetres away from the wall. The FC continued its drift all the way down the corner stopping right in front of a crowd who refused to believe what had just happened.

'He's won!' Hiroshi shouted happily while he ran towards the Mazda, 'he's done it!'

Inside his car, Ryosuke found himself shaking. It had been uncomfortably close but, somehow, he'd won.

'Ryosuke!' he heard someone shouting outside, looking up, he fought the daze in his brain and recognised his friend Hiroshi's face. The older man was asking him to get out of his car but Ryosuke didn't trust his legs just yet. Instead, he lowered his side's window and forced himself to smile while Hiroshi said, 'you've won!'

'I know,' was all that Ryosuke managed to say.

'You nearly gave me a heart attack!' Hiroshi complained but he was obviously too happy to care.

Ryosuke was still trying to come up with something to say when he saw Teru's AW11 stopping next to the FC. He knew that the manoeuvre he'd pulled off was not very fair and expected to get contempt from the guy, instead, Teru seemed to be quite unfazed by the whole episode and, walking towards the FC, he said:

'That was a very bold move you did back there.'

'I'm sorry, I…'

'Don't apologise,' Teru said, 'it's not like I was any less…'

He never finished the sentence because right then, Shoya arrived with his green S12.

'Get out of the car,' the man told Ryosuke, 'I want to shake hands with you.'

Ryosuke complied immediately while he wondered just how Shoya had managed to get down so fast.

'I'm glad I followed you two,' Shoya said giving Ryosuke a firm handshake and answering his unasked question, 'because I got a splendid view of the moment when you took revenge for all of us who've been fooled by this scoundrel.'

'Who are you calling scoundrel?' Teru asked lifting his fist as if he were going to punch Shoya.

'You, who else?' Shoya had the cheek to reply. He released Ryosuke's hand and went to lower Teru's arm, 'give it up, you knew that sooner or later you'd find someone who would not fall for one of your many tricks.'

'I did,' Ryosuke admitted, 'at first I did but I knew he had to be messing with me when I saw that he kept up with me without breaking a sweat.'

'You think it was easy for me?' Teru asked him looking incredulous.

'Judging by the way you overtook me, I'd say yes,' Ryosuke replied.

Shoya let out a soft chuckle while Teru shook his head and said:

'Up to now, I've never had to wait until the last bridge to overtake someone.'

'That's right,' Shoya said, 'with me, he did it half way through the course and even though I came close, I could not get back ahead. No one can, once Teru gets in front of you, that's pretty much, the end of it.'

'Until today,' a new voice said.

Turning round, they all saw Teru's cousin Ken joining up the group.

'I bet you're regretting that challenge you issued him earlier,' Shoya said with a smirk.

'No way,' the guy said, 'I want to race him now more than ever! He's as fast as…'

'…a shooting star?' Teru suggested clearly mocking his cousin.

'No,' Shoya said, 'more than a shooting star, I'd say he's like a comet.'

'A comet?' Ryosuke chocked.

'Yes,' Shoya said he then looked at the FC and said, 'you and that car of yours are as fast as a white comet.'

'Akagi's White Comet,' Hiroshi tried saying out loud.

'It definitely suits him,' Ken said.

'That'll be your nickname then,' Teru agreed, 'Akagi's White Comet.'

Ryosuke could not believe where the conversation had ended up but, in spite of how ridiculous it sounded, he stared at his beloved car for a moment before deciding that he didn't really mind his new nickname.

'I should get going now,' he announced then, he looked at Teru and said, 'I would like to race you again.'

'You're offering me a re-match?' Teru asked.

'Something like that,' Ryosuke replied, 'if you're up for it, of course.'

'I'll think about it,' Teru said.

'Please do so,' Ryosuke said then, he turned to Ken and told him, 'I'll see you at Momiji Line.'

'Count on it,' the guy said.

A couple of hours later, Ryosuke sat in front of his computer finishing the thorough analysis he had become used to writing after each of his street races. So far, in each of these races, he had discovered something in which he needed to work on and his battle against the AW11 was no different.

If had to be honest, he had been brutally shaken that Teru's strategy had worked so brilliantly. He, who had always been proud of his mental strength, had been so badly distracted by his opponent that he had failed to notice Shoya's car driving after them. This, Ryosuke vowed, was something he needed to fix.

He was about to save the file when he heard his room's phone ringing.

'Hello?' he picked it up as quickly as he could.

'Hi there,' he heard Takayuki's cheery tone greeting him, 'I hope I didn't wake you!'

'No, you didn't,' Ryosuke replied, 'it's only one o'clock in the morning.'

'Oh, I forgot,' Takayuki said, 'you're a vampire who never sleeps!'

'Are you calling me to insult me or…'

'I'm calling you to inform you that, lucky you, you'll have the pleasure of my company for two entire weeks.'

'Lucky me indeed,' Ryosuke said, his lips reluctantly curving up to form a smile.

'I know!' Takayuki said, 'unfortunately, I promised Piero and Giancarlo that I would go with them to Liguria.'

'Liguria?' Ryosuke asked.

'It's an Italian coastal region,' Takayuki supplied.

'I know that, idiot,' Ryosuke said, 'what are you guys doing there?'

'Giancarlo's got a place by the beach and I'll be spending a few days with them but I'll be heading to Japan in July,' Takayuki said, 'if you're free, I was thinking of doing that road trip we talked about.'

'That'd be a good idea,' Ryosuke said, 'we could go up north…'

'Nah,' Takayuki said, 'I was thinking of going to Fukuoka, I hear they have some great roads there.'

'That's true too,' Ryosuke said, 'Fukuoka it is then.'

'Awesome,' Takayuki said, 'speaking of road trips, how's the FC? Are you treating it well?'

'Of course I treat it well,' Ryosuke said feeling almost offended, 'I've won a few races with it.'

'I know,' Takayuki said, 'I'm doing my best to follow the Fuji Freshman Series here in Italy. That Kikuchi guy is good but, my friend, you're just better.'

'Thanks,' Ryosuke said.

'To think you didn't even like cars!' Takayuki laughed, 'if it wasn't for me…'

'I do owe you,' Ryosuke said honestly, 'listen: since you're the first one who ever drove the FC, what would you say if I asked you to drive it down to Fukuoka. You'll then see how different it is from when I got it.'

'That sounds great,' Takayuki replied, 'I've gotta go now, or I'll have to sell a kidney to pay the phone bill.'

'Please don't do that,' Ryosuke said sounding supremely serious.

'I won't,' he promised, 'and I'll see you soon.'

'You will,' Ryosuke said.

Hanging up the phone, Ryosuke felt happier than he'd been in a very long time. Not only he'd managed to achieve yet another win, but he now had a road trip with Takayuki to look forward too. He only hoped he could manage to take a few days off in his busy schedule but, somehow, Ryosuke knew he would manage.

This good mood of his carried forth during Sunday afternoon when he and Erika travelled to Tokyo so that they could go and watch a few horse races at the Tokyo Racecourse. The stadium, built in 1933, was the biggest of its kind in the world and Ryosuke enjoyed watching Erika behaving like a kid in Disneyland.

'I take you're having fun,' Ryosuke asked her while they waited for the next race to start.

'You bet,' Erika said, 'those horses are la crème de la crème in the racing industry.'

'You can tell they're being well looked after,' Ryosuke commented, 'yet again, with the money they make their owners, they should be.'

'That helps, of course,' Erika said, 'but it helps even more that the Racing Association is incredibly strict when it comes to the way they're treated. Horses weren't always so well looked after once upon a time.'

Ryosuke noticed a frown appearing on Erika's face and, trying to get her to smile again, he said:

'Why don't we try to visit the clinic?'

'The clinic?' Erika asked.

'Yes,' Ryosuke said firmly.

'It's off-limits to those who are not authorised,' Erika observed, 'and sadly, we're not.'

'Well…'

'Well?' Erika asked.

'Maybe I have a surprise for you,' Ryosuke said getting up. Something made him offer her his hand and was about to pull it back when, to his surprise, Erika took it with hers, accepting his help to get up. She then let it go and Ryosuke felt like his hand had gone cold all of a sudden. This made Ryosuke decide that it was useless to deny the attraction he felt for the girl.

'Let's go then,' an oblivious Erika said.

Ryosuke followed the girl down the grandstand and, following the signs, she led them both to the entrance of the area restricted to the horse owners and the stadium's own staff. The veterinarian clinic was there too.

'Can I see your passes?' a security guard asked them.

'I'm Takahashi Ryosuke, I have an appointment with Doctor Inohara.'

'Wait for a moment,' the guard said. He then stepped into a small office where he probably made a call to confirm what Ryosuke was saying. An instant later, he got out and said, 'okay, Doctor Inohara is coming.'

'Thank you,' Ryosuke said.

'What's all of this?' Erika whispered.

'Doctor Inohara is director of the clinic,' Ryosuke replied calmly.

'I know that,' Erika said, 'I just…'

'My father and Doctor Inohara recently played golf together and when I mentioned I was coming here with you, my father suggested I'd get in touch with him so that we could visit the installations together.'

'I…' she gasped, 'I…don't know what to…say…'

'You don't need to say anything,' Ryosuke said, 'I know how much this means to you.'

'No,' Erika said, 'you have no idea…I…'

The arrival of Doctor Inohara prevented her from completing her sentence and, very soon, she was too busy being shown around the clinic, observing the veterinarians at work with the horses that were involved in the day's races to even pay attention to anything else. Ryosuke found it very cute the way her eyes shone when Doctor Inohara showed her some of the newest equipment they had to check the health of the horses' muscles.

'I hope you found the tour instructive,' the good doctor said.

'With all due respect, more than you can imagine,' a flustered Erika replied.

'I'm told you'd like to work here one day,' Doctor Inohara said and that made Erika glance at Ryosuke.

'It'd be my biggest dream,' Erika admitted.

'Well,' the doctor said, 'you clearly have the vocation so, providing you graduate with honours, I'll look forward to receiving your application.'

Hearing this, Erika just lost her ability to speak.

She only recovered it when, on their way back to the grandstands, Erika stopped him in the middle of a semi-deserted corridor and, looking at him very gravely, she asked him:

'I don't mean to sound ungrateful but, why did you do this?'

'I just thought you'd like it,' Ryosuke replied.

'You knew that I would be speechless,' Erika almost protested, 'you've basically put me on Doctor Inohara's radar, that's something that not even my professor could guarantee with his recommendation letter.'

'It was a rather unexpected bonus,' Ryosuke admitted.

'A bonus?' Erika asked in disbelief. She looked like she was trying to find the words then she just gave up and said, 'this is not something you do for any random friend…'

'You're not a random friend,' Ryosuke said.

'Ryosuke…'

'You're not a random friend,' he repeated interrupting her.

'What am I then?' Erika asked.

'You're one of my closest friends,' Ryosuke replied.

'Nothing more, right?' the girl asked fearfully.

'Nothing more,' Ryosuke assured her than, he said, 'but there's something I'd like to tell you.' He stopped speaking until she nodded, he then continued, 'I know you're far from being ready for anything else, I know that my life is complicated enough as it is but, I've been doing some thinking and…'

'Ryosuke…'

'…and I don't want to limit things between us,' Ryosuke said, 'I don't want to force anything either. For once in my life, I want things to follow their natural course taking it one day at a time without constantly worrying about the future: if something is to happen between us, splendid, if not, we'll still enjoy a wonderful friendship.'

'But…'

'I don't want to pressure you into anything, just like I'm asking you not to pressure me.' Ryosuke said, 'one of the things I like the most about our relationship is that we can be comfortable around each other. I don't want to lose that just because we're trying to impose ourselves useless limitations.'

Erika seemed to ponder it all for a while then, she nodded again and said:

'Alright, let's do that.'

'Okay,' Ryosuke said, 'now, let's go, we still have to watch the last three races.'

The following day he was at the library, gathering a few books he needed for a paper when he saw Kaori signalling him to go to her. He followed her to one of the private reading rooms and, just as he was setting the books down on the table located right in the middle of the room, he heard her closing the door after her.

'Kaori-san?' he asked her keeping his voice just above a whisper.

'I have great news,' she said taking a seat on one of the armchairs.

'And they couldn't wait until lunchtime?' Ryosuke asked leaning against the table.

'Nope,' Kaori said, 'Hojo-san and I went out for dinner on Saturday evening,' she continued, 'for some reason he seemed to be in a good mood so I took the chance to try and talk to him about my career.'

'You did?' Ryosuke said perking up a little.

'Yes,' Kaori replied smiling at him.

'I take things went well,' he commented.

'They went better than well,' Kaori said, 'he said that he realised his request was a little unreasonable.'

'Try a lot,' Ryosuke muttered under his breath. Kaori still heard him though.

'Yeah,' she agreed with a light laugh, 'he said that if I don't complete my residency, my degree would not be complete and he said that even if I don't work as a doctor, I should still be a fully-qualified one, just in case.'

'It makes sense,' Ryosuke said, 'in a way.'

'Yes, that's what I thought too,' Kaori said, her smile faltering a little.

'But it's a good start,' he said, 'at least it would give you two more years to persuade him into…'

'I don't know if that would work,' Kaori interrupted him, 'but now he's given in with this, it might not be impossible.'

'I think so too,' Ryosuke said, 'after all, if there's someone who can make him change his mind, it's you. After this, I'm thinking that maybe we misjudged Hojo-senpai a bit. I think that he's not as bad as my father and that he is prepared to listen.'

'I wish you were right,' Kaori objected, 'but this is the first time he's changed his mind about something.'

'Well,' he said, 'to be honest, his idea about not letting you complete your residency was a terrible one. I'm sure he realised that on his own. Also, Kaori-san, you shouldn't underestimate yourself.'

'What do you mean?' Kaori asked.

'He loves you,' Ryosuke replied, 'I'm sure he hates seeing you cry as much as I do, probably even more so.'

'You're always so sweet,' Kaori said getting up from the armchair, 'your girlfriend is so lucky to have you.'

Ryosuke could not say anything to that. He was going to pick up his books instead when Kaori walked up to him and, without any previous warning, she first hugged him and then, releasing him just a little, she got on her tiptoes and kissed him on his cheek.

'Kaori-san…'

'That's just to thank you for your advice,' she said, 'don't worry, there's nothing more to it.'

'Okay,' he somehow managed to say.

'I've seen you're busy so, I'll let you get on with your work now,' she added, 'I'll see you at lunchtime!'

Nodding once, he watched letting herself out of the reading room leaving Ryosuke alone with his thoughts. He was grateful to be on his own because he suddenly found himself smiling at the fact that, at the present, his life seemed to be heading in a very good direction: not only Kaori and Rin seemed to be on their way to fixing their problems but, he had managed to clear things out with Erika in a more than satisfactory way.

Racing wise things also appeared rosy: with Ken Kitajima he had another rival lined up, his endeavour in the Fuji Freshman Series was also exceeding his most optimistic expectations, his car felt better than ever and he had found another aspect of his fastest racer theory that would, quite literally, keep his hyperactive mind busy.

Things could not be better.

There only was one thing he still worried about: his brother Keisuke.

He still needed to find a way to steer his younger brother's attention away from the all-too-dangerous bike he insisted on riding and, hopefully, get him interested in cars. This was especially important now because, in less than three months Keisuke would turn eighteen and thus, old enough to get his driving license.

The first opportunity to achieve this seemingly impossible mission presented itself in a warm Saturday evening of mid-June while he worked with Shuichi on the FC, preparing the car for its next Fuji Freshman Series race in the Tsukuba Circuit in the nearby prefecture of Ibaraki.

'You know who's racing in Tsukuba tomorrow morning?' Shuichi asked while they started cleaning up.

'No idea,' Ryosuke replied.

'Sudo,' Shuichi replied, 'he's taking part in the first event of the Mitsubishi Challenge Cup.'

'Is that right?' Ryosuke said.

'I was thinking we could go and watch him,' Shuichi suggested.

'Why?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Because it'd be interesting,' Shuichi replied, 'also, it'd be a good way for you to check the circuit.'

Ryosuke studied his chief mechanic for a little while then, he offered him a half-smirk and said:

'You know, you're getting to be almost as good a salesman as Fumihiro.'

'Well, thank you,' Shuichi said clearly taking it as a huge compliment, 'so, are you interested?'

'Yes, I am,' Ryosuke said.

After agreeing to meet up at half past ten the following morning just outside the circuit main entrance, Ryosuke hurried home hoping he'd still find Keisuke there. Luckily, it was still reasonably early and Ryosuke found the kid watching TV in the living room, probably enjoying the fact that their parents were both out and he had the house all to himself.

'Hey,' Keisuke greeted him.

'Hello Keisuke,' Ryosuke replied. He then sat down on one of the dark leather couches and said, 'do you have any plans for tomorrow morning?'

'Explain morning,' Keisuke said, pressing the mute button on the remote.

'Eight o'clock,' Ryosuke replied.

'Whoa,' Keisuke said looking positively horrified, 'that's way too early for a Sunday!'

'You're probably right but,' Ryosuke said, 'it would mean a lot to me if you could come somewhere with me.'

Keisuke looked at his brother with a frown appearing in his handsome features.

'Where do you want to go?' he dared to ask.

'There's an event in the Tsukuba Circuit and I'd want to attend it with you.'

'Tsukuba?' Keisuke asked, 'they race bikes there, don't they?'

'Yes, that's correct,' Ryosuke said. He then held his breath for a moment while Keisuke thought about it.

'Alright,' he finally said, 'but you'll have to wake me if you want me to go.'

'I will,' Ryosuke promised.

The morning after, after just twenty minutes of constant prodding and three strong black coffees, Ryosuke somehow managed to get his younger brother onboard the FC where he proceeded to fall asleep again.

At least he's here, Ryosuke mused while driving down the lane. It was a start.

Two hours later, with ten minutes to go to the agreed time, he parked the FC as close to the entrance as possible and, yet again, he woke Keisuke up to let him know that they had arrived. The kid mumbled some sort of protest but deciding to be a good boy, got out of the car and followed his older brother.

Hiroshi and Shuichi arrived together just a couple of minutes later and both men did not hide their surprise seeing the youngest of the Takahashi clan there. Ryosuke sent them a silent message not to say anything.

'Good morning,' he told them instead.

'Hi,' Hiroshi replied, 'it's good to see you again, Keisuke.'

'Yo!' the kid said.

'Let's go and get the tickets,' Ryosuke suggested.

A few moments later, with the four tickets having got the stamp from the organisation, the four men stepped into the circuit and made their way to one of the main grandstands to go and find their seats. From there, they saw a few of the cars which would take part at the Mitsubishi Challenge Cup already on the track.

'WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?'

Keisuke had finally woken up.

'It's a race,' Ryosuke explained as patiently as possible.

'I can see that!' Keisuke exclaimed, 'but it's a CAR race!'

'I know,' Ryosuke said. He could see that Shuichi and Hiroshi were doing their best not to burst out laughing.

'You told me it was a BIKE race!' Keisuke protested.

'I never said that,' Ryosuke said.

'You did!' Keisuke countered, 'you told me that they raced with bikes in Tsukuba.'

'And they do,' Ryosuke confirmed, 'just not today.'

Keisuke was so stunned hearing this that he remained speechless.

'Come on,' Hiroshi intervened, 'you'll have fun.'

'Yeah, right,' Keisuke rebuffed.

'Let's just sit down, okay?' Shuichi suggested.

'How long does this last?' Keisuke asked to no one in particular.

'Just two hours,' Ryosuke replied.

'TWO HOURS?' Keisuke asked now looking scandalised. Seeing the three older men nodding, he became almost mutinous and, dropping himself onto his seat, he said, 'I knew I should have brought my bike here.'

'Well,' Ryosuke commented, 'you haven't so: you might as well try and have some fun.'

'As if,' Keisuke muttered. He folded his arms onto his chest and went on to pretend he was asleep.

'Let him be,' Hiroshi told Ryosuke seeing his dismayed expression.

Deciding that his friend was right, Ryosuke sat down next to his brother while Hiroshi went to sit at the other side of Keisuke. Shuichi took the seat next to Ryosuke and produced a printed sheet of paper.

'What's that?' Ryosuke asked him.

'It's the participant's list,' Shuichi said handing it to him.

'Oh,' Ryosuke gasped, 'this…'

'I know, I was surprised too,' Shuichi said, 'I had no idea that Sudo had changed cars.'

Just as they said this, they saw the car in question came out. It was a pitch black Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. Ryosuke had read about this specific model and he knew that the 4G63 engine produced up to two hundred and forty-four horsepower but, judging by the sound coming out of the one that was currently cruising down the main straight, Kyoichi's car had to be making about one hundred more than that.

'Wow,' Hiroshi said hearing it, 'it pains me to say it but…'

'…it sounds great,' Ryosuke finished for him.

'It does,' Shuichi confirmed.

'What happened to his ZR-4?' Hiroshi asked him.

'No idea,' Shuichi said, 'maybe he's sold it?'

'I doubt it,' Ryosuke said then, he pointed at the car which was now even closer and said, 'that car's been set up specifically for circuit use. His ZR-4 is also roadworthy so it can be used for everyday driving.'

'That's true,' Hiroshi said.

'In that case,' Shuichi said, 'where did he get all the money to buy that one?'

'Maybe he stole it,' they heard Keisuke say.

'I thought you were sleeping,' Ryosuke commented.

'I can't sleep if you keep talking so loud,' Keisuke complained.

'It's only going to get louder, you know?' Hiroshi commented.

Keisuke glared at him and then went back to pretend he was sleeping.

This time neither Hiroshi nor Shuichi repressed their laughter. Ryosuke decided to save their lives by asking them to stop teasing Keisuke and to start paying attention to the race they had come to watch in the first place and soon all three men were too busy with what was going on out at the track to worry about anything else and, when an hour later all eighteen cars finally lined up for a launched start, they failed to hear Keisuke's gasp of surprise when the engines were all revved to the max just before the semaphore turned green.

Ryosuke watched as Kyochi's new car darted past the first three cars as if they were a little more than a nuisance and, within the first three laps, his car went from ninth to fourth. He hated the way he drove but he had to admit it that it was as efficient as it was ruthless.

For the following seven laps, the black EVO got stuck behind a silver version of the same model. The two cars entered the eleventh lap and Ryosuke was sure that he'd see Kyoichi losing his cool when, to his surprise, the guy remained in his fourth place showing a level of mental maturity Ryosuke was not expecting of him.

'He's growing up too,' he commented.

'Yes, he is,' Shuichi confirmed.

Returning his attention to the black Mitsubishi, Ryosuke was almost happy to see the moment when, three laps later, with only eleven to go, Kyoichi finally managed to shake off the silver EVO so that he could claim third place. Of course, Ryosuke knew that Kyoichi would not settle for that and, was pleased to see that, this time, his prediction was correct. Soon enough, Kyoichi was launched in pursue of a highly modified Galant VR-4, painted in British Green.

'What was Sudo's last lap time?' he asked Shuichi.

'One minute and nine seconds,' the mechanic replied.

'And the Galant's?'

'One minute and three.'

The VR-4 was seven seconds ahead so it would take a miracle for Kyoichi's EVO to catch up with it. Kyoichi had to be at least one second faster than the Galant for at least the next seven laps and, even so, there would only be four laps left in which to try and overtake. Things looked quite bleak for Kyoichi and Ryosuke was surprised to feel a little sad for the guy.

'One minute and two for the Galant,' Shuichi said then, an instant later, he shouted, 'One and one for Sudo!'

'Seriously?' Ryosuke asked checking the two stopwatches himself.

'Yes,' Shuichi said.

'He can do it,' Hiroshi announced.

'I hope so,' Ryosuke said, 'what?' he then asked noticing the looks he was getting from his friends.

'Nothing,' Hiroshi said badly repressing a smirk.

Lap after lap, Kyoichi kept on cutting seconds down and, with just two laps to go, he finally caught up with the VR-4. The two cars could be seen taking the corner number four which would lead to the parabolic formed by five and six. There, the two Mitsubishis got even closer and in seven, a ninety-degree right-hander, Kyoichi staged his first attack, moving to the inside the moment they left corner seven behind.

Unfortunately for him the driver of the VR-4 had no intention of letting Kyoichi pass and, to everyone's horror, they saw how with the tiniest of nudges, the green Galant pushed the black EVO to the chicane formed by corners thirteen and fourteen. This chicane was only used by motorbikes and that meant that, at the moment, its entry was covered by a wall of tyres.

And that's where Kyoichi's race ended.

'What a bastard!' they all heard Keisuke complain.

'Oh, were you awake?' Ryosuke asked trying not to sound amused.

'Only for the last few laps,' Keisuke said.

'So, what do you think of what you did see?' Hiroshi asked him.

'I think,' Keisuke said looking murderous, 'that if I were the driver of that black whatever-is-called, I'd beat the crap out of the bastard driving the other car.'

Ryosuke looked at his younger brother then, he glanced at his two friends and, just then, they all started laughing. They even missed the moment the winner crossed the finish line but, to Ryosuke this small improvement in Keisuke's interest in cars made his day.

_To be continued…_


	22. Chapter Twenty One

A/N: I can almost hear it...you guys fainting on your chair seeing this poor story finally updated after a gazillion years. Or maybe not, maybe NO one will read this because you're just got fed up waiting. In that case, it's my own fault for being stupidly slow with this chapter.

I do of course have my reasons, having a busy life being one of them, but it's mainly because I have been kidnapped by other fandoms. With Fifth Stage out and everyone back in business, I could not leave this story alone any longer and I can only apologise for the huge delay and hope you can forgive me.

I will try to keep it frequently updated while, at the same time, I will also write my new Star Trek story.

Hopefully I'll manage to get both finished, wish me luck!

Happy reading, Sanae.

**Planetarium**

_Chapter Twenty One_

Koichiro Iketani liked his job at Shibukawa's oldest petrol station. His boss, Yuuichi Tachibana was a very good man who had become somewhat of a father figure in the few months Koichiro had worked for him and the young man truly enjoyed the lengthy conversations he often had with the older man.

In spite of this, that evening Koichiro was extremely eager to get off work so that he could travel with one of his senpai to Momiji Line where there would be what his senpai had called an epic racer.

'Is there anywhere you need to be?' Yuuichi asked him with his usual kindness.

'Er…' Koichiro hesitated, 'well…'

'Oh,' Yuuichi gasped, 'you've got a date!'

'What? No…I…'

'No need to be shy about it,' Yuuichi said smiling proudly, he then checked his wristwatch and said, 'you better go and get changed then.'

'But my shift doesn't end until seven,' Koichiro pointed out, 'it's still quarter to.'

'Don't worry about it,' Yuuichi said, 'now, go and get changed: that's an order!'

Feeling a little embarrassed and quite a lot guilty, Koichiro was forced to comply and, setting down the ever present piece of cloth he used to clean the windscreens, he turned round and entered the small building that housed the changing rooms. Once there, he got out of his uniform and, less than ten minutes later, he got onboard his scooter and headed to home so he could grab a quick bite.

At exactly half past seven, Koichiro parked the scooter right outside the residence of the Shibata family. He was about to ring the bell when he saw Satoshi Shibata coming out of his house.

'Senpai,' Koichiro greeted him.

'Been waiting long?' the older man asked.

'No, just got here,' Koichiro replied.

'Alright,' Satoshi said, 'let's go then, I want to get there with enough time to see their practice runs.'

Koichiro just nodded and followed his senpai to the garage where he admired for the umpteenth time a beautiful, dark grey 1989 Mitsubishi Starion 2.6 Turbo wishing, also for the umpteenth time, that he could afford to buy a car of his own.

'Come on Iketani, hop on board,' Satoshi said taking him out of his reverie.

'Sorry,' the young man said.

Climbing into the Starion as quickly as he could, he barely had time to fasten his seatbelt before Satoshi took off at a neck breaking speed but Koichiro enjoyed going fast too much to complain.

'Should I slow down?' his senpai asked, almost as if he were daring him.

'No way,' Koichiro replied, 'this car was made to go fast!'

'Well said,' Satoshi approved.

'I only wish I could afford to buy a car,' Koichiro said.

'I thought you were saving for an S13?' Satoshi asked.

'I am,' Koichiro confirmed, 'but I still have a long way to go.'

'Don't worry,' Satoshi told him, 'it took me forever to get the money to buy this baby, but it was worth every day of the wait. It'll be the same for you, believe me.'

'Oh, I do!' Koichiro exclaimed. He proceeded to daydream about the moment he would be sitting behind the steering wheel of the beautiful two-tone Nissan Silvia he had seen only in pictures.

An hour and a half later, after they had driven via both the Kasuo Pass and Nikko, they drove past the toll gate at the Ryokyo entrance of the Momiji Line and, after driving for about ten more minutes, they spotted the first of the many cars that were parked along the narrow mountain pass.

Satoshi decided to leave his at a very small bay that was protected by a flimsy looking white guardrail. There, they saw a handful of people leaning against the metallic barrier, waiting to see the racers driving by. One of them, Koichiro noticed, was holding a camcorder.

'Isn't that a bit much?' he dared to ask Satoshi.

'Not really,' the senpai replied, 'from what I heard, Akagi's White Comet is worth recording.'

'Akagi what?' Koichiro asked.

'Akagi's White Comet,' Satoshi repeated, 'it's the nickname he's known by,' he explained.

'Why do they call him that?' Koichiro asked.

'I have no idea,' Satoshi replied.

The answer presented itself almost immediately and, just as they found an empty space, a white FCS3 drifted so incredibly close to the guardrail and at such high speed that Koichiro found himself grabbing the cold metal in order not to fall on his butt.

'That's him,' Satoshi unnecessarily explained.

Koichiro found he had lost his ability to speak. All he could do was to stare in awe as the Mazda's taillights disappeared around one of the first corners of the pass executing yet another perfect drift.

Inside the FC, Ryosuke was very happy. He was pleased with the way he and Shuichi had set up the car and, as he pressed on the FC's shifter, he noticed that all the work they've put into rebuilding the gearbox was paying off and the transition from one gear to another was smoother than ever.

Another positive thing was that being mid June and just over nine o'clock in the evening, there was still just about enough light to do one final inspection of the course while he drove it uphill for the third time in a row.

The pass was heavily used during the day to connect the Shiobara and the Kinugawa Onsen as well as many tourists that came to enjoy the beautiful scenery the road offered, especially during the autumn when the leaves formed a natural painting with different shades of green, red and yellow.

But now, except the few bystanders who had come to watch the race, it was mostly empty. This allowed Ryosuke the peace of mind he needed to take note of the very solid looking wall found at the end and at a few other points of the road, the dry leaves that even at the end of spring still covered both sides of the pass and how it suddenly became slightly narrower as the gradient increased.

The tarmac's conditions were good enough throughout and while in the final sector one had to worry about the steep cliff at the left hand side, Ryosuke's main concern was the huge gutter on his right found at the beginning of the course and that run for about a third of the whole way. There were no grids whatsoever covering it and Ryosuke knew that it could become a deadly trap for the tyres of the FC.

He had to be very careful with it.

When Ryosuke arrived at the summit, he saw something that alarmed him a little: Ken Kitajima's dark blue Toyota Supra had its hood up and both Ken and his cousin Teru were busy examining something.

'Any problems?' he asked them both the instant he got out of the FC.

'Not really,' Teru hurried to reply.

'I just felt something and…well…' Ken explained, 'I just want to be sure everything's fine.'

'Do you need a hand?' Ryosuke asked.

'I've already asked them,' Hiroshi said stepping into the conversation, 'but they said no.'

'It's fine,' Teru insisted, 'don't worry about it.'

'Alright,' Ryosuke accepted, 'but just so you know, if you wish to postpone the race…'

'No way,' Ken interrupted him, 'I've been looking forward to this battle so much I couldn't concentrate on anything else. I'm sure the car's fine, I'm just being overly paranoid, that's all.'

Ryosuke studied his opponent's eager expression then moved to Teru who, for a fleeting moment showed some emotion on his face that was a mix of concern as well as something else the future doctor couldn't quite identify. At any rate, he was beginning to get worried too. Hiroshi probably sensed this because he grasped Ryosuke's arm gently leading him away back to the FC.

'If Kitajima says the car is fine then you shouldn't worry,' he told him lowering his tone of voice.

'I know,' Ryosuke replied, 'it's just that…'

'I know,' Hiroshi repeated, 'but you cannot worry like that about an opponent, surely you know that.'

'I do,' Ryosuke confirmed.

'Okay,' Hiroshi said, 'just drive as you usually do and let Kurebayashi worry about his cousin.'

Ryosuke just nodded once.

They both rejoined Teru and Ken just as the latter lowered the hood looking very much like he deemed his car race-worthy. Ryosuke took that as his cue to shake off the uneasiness that had temporarily clouded his concentration, checking his watch he saw it was nearly half past nine.

'Shall we start then?' he asked.

'I thought you'd never ask,' Ken replied cheekily.

Repressing an eye-roll, Ryosuke opened the FC's door and nodding once to Hiroshi, he climbed behind its steering wheel. Around his car, the usual pre-race frenzy started and very soon, everyone was in their place: the public lined up behind the guardrails, Hiroshi crouched by the FC's rolled out and Teru keeping an eye on his radio, ready to announce the moment they could start the race.

'Have fun,' was Hiroshi's final piece of advice.

'I'll do my best,' Ryosuke replied gracing him with one of his rare smiles.

A few moments later, both drivers watched Teru walking in front of the two cars. He then lifted his arm up in the air and started shouting the countdown: 'FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE: GO!'

Eager to study his adversary, Ryosuke delayed his start by just an instant but that was more than enough for Ken's JZA70 to overtake him with relative ease. This, of course, caused an immediate cheer coming from the galleries. Ignoring that, Ryosuke concentrated his attention on staying behind the Toyota as well as keeping the FC as far away from the gutter as possible.

'He's done it again,' Hiroshi heard Teru comment, almost as if talking to himself.

'Yeah, he has,' the salesman replied nonetheless.

'I told my cousin not to play with fire,' Teru said, 'Takahashi is way out of his league.'

'Oh, you never know,' Hiroshi replied cryptically.

Before Teru could ask him to explain himself, Hiroshi made his way back to his car. He turned on the engine and, before anyone could stop him, he started driving down as fast as he dared. Not that he had any intention of catching up with the two racers, he just wanted to see how far he could push it.

Way ahead of him, Ryosuke was tailing Ken's Supra as both cars entered the first hairpin of the pass. The short distance they had covered had been enough for him to notice a few things about his opponent. First and foremost, Ken had plenty of talent. The younger man was fearless and tackled the corners with the sort of determination one would expect from a professional driver.

Ken also managed to keep a decent level of control over the beast he was driving, however, Ryosuke noted that there was something unpolished about the whole thing. Almost as if Ken wasn't entirely comfortable with his ride. It was difficult to judge, at least without taking a closer look at the Toyota but, the future doctor could only guess that the problem was with the JZA70's settings.

Or perhaps Ken just needed a different type of car.

Regardless, if Ken managed to find something that would suit his driving style, he could potentially become an exceptional street racer. Ryosuke decided then that he would make it his business to keep an eye on the man. But, right now, he had a race to win: it was time to focus on his own driving.

Adjusting his grasp on the FC's steering wheel, Ryosuke focused on the short straight that would lead to a sharp left-hand corner. He was glad the tarmac was in excellent state for he could feel the tyres fiercely gripping it, allowing him to achieve the perfect racing line.

Just ahead of him, he watched Ken braking just a little too early as he took his Supra into the left-hander. Ryosuke considered overtaking him there but, some sixth sense told him to wait till they had covered at least half of the length of the course.

Holding back, he entered the corner enjoying the way the FC's mechanics responded to his pedal work. He started feeling the usual rush of joy when, one turn after another, he felt the car becoming more and more in tune with him. Ryosuke had never been more in love with his machine.

Two thirds into the race, the two cars had almost left behind the most curvy part of the pass when Ryosuke saw Ken doing something that made him worry: the younger man had decided to get absurdly close to the uncovered gutter in what looked like an all-too desperate attempt at widening the gap between the two cars.

With increasing alarm, he saw that at the following corner, a ninety degree right hander, Ken placed his tyres right on the road's edge, with the Supra skirts brushing against the vegetation that grew over the gutter. If Ryosuke's calculations were correct, by the time the Toyota reached the corner's apex, it would run out of road. Ken seriously risked getting one of his car's tyres into the gutter.

'That's not good,' Ryosuke muttered to himself.

In a split-second, the future doctor made a decision: pressing the accelerator, he drove outwards, placing his car as close to the left hand side guardrail as he could. Ken obviously saw this because, just as Ryosuke had foreseen it, the younger man moved his car away from the gutter trying to close the space for the FC.

Happy to see his tactic had worked, Ryosuke let Ken stay ahead.

At least for now.

The two cars then entered a parabolic corner that would lead to a flatter part of the pass. He saw that, once again Ken repeated the experiment getting too close to the gutter but, this time, Ryosuke noticed with pleasure had become aware that leaving so much space on the outside wasn't such a brilliant idea. Once again, Ryosuke was impressed: Ken was also a quick learner.

It was for this reason that he decided to overtake Ken.

If the kid wanted to learn, Ryosuke would gladly show him a bit of his driving.

Two corners after the parabolic, the two cars entered an S shaped chicane, it was the perfect spot for a technique Ryosuke had perfected on the racing tracks: on the first left-hand turn, he drove the FC to the outside, forcing Ken to close the way by staying away from the gutter. Both cars existed the corner almost levelled and, just then, Ryosuke briefly braked to slow down just enough for him to drift inwards. Then, releasing the brake, he almost floored the accelerator as the FC and the JZA70 entered the following right-hander.

With a slight advantage in terms of speed, the Mazda managed to get into the corner just ahead of the Toyota and, using the extra inertia it had, it was easy for Ryosuke to overtake Ken.

He could physically feel the frustration coming from the other car's driver.

Allowing himself a tiny smile, Ryosuke decided to start the "lesson".

For the following three kilometres, he made his car dance through the turns. He made extra sure his FC kept the tidiest racing line, breaking and shifting gears at the most appropriate places, increasing the pace as the road became almost entirely flat.

By the time they reached the final two hairpins, he realised Ken's Supra was no longer visible on his rear view mirror. He felt his lips curve into a smile and, speaking to the FC's steering wheel, he said:

'Perhaps we've overdone it a little.'

He crossed the finish line a few moments later and, after two more minutes, he saw the headlights of Ken's car clearing the final corner. Ryosuke got out of his car and waited for him to stop the Supra.

'That was awesome!' the kid shouted happily while he climbed out of the JZA70.

Trying not to laugh, Ryosuke walked towards him and, offering him his card, he said:

'Here's my phone number, I hope we can stay in touch.'

'Really?' Ken asked him looking flabbergasted.

'Yes,' Ryosuke insisted, 'I see a lot of potential in your driving and I would like us to meet again.'

'I'd love that,' Ken said, 'but you're the one who's amazing. Just now, you got serious, didn't you?'

'Yes, I did,' Ryosuke admitted.

'Somehow, I feel privileged to have seen it,' Ken said.

Ryosuke didn't know what to say to that but he was saved by the arrival of another car. He was happy to see it was Hiroshi's AW11. The salesman stopped right next to the FC and, rolling down the window, he asked him:

'Did you just get here?'

'Yes, we did,' Ryosuke replied.

'Wow, I'm impressed with my own driving,' Hiroshi sounding genuinely surprised.

This time, Ryosuke did let out a soft chuckle.

'Well, if you want us to race, just say the word.'

'No way!' Hiroshi exclaimed, 'I'm not that crazy, no offence,' he added glancing at an amused Ken.

'None taken,' he said, 'after what I've seen him doing, I think one has to be crazy to challenge him.'

This last bit was clearly overheard by everyone from the public, including Koichiro Iketani who, along with many people, had been left speechless at the FC's overwhelming victory over the Supra.

'Let's go,' Ryosuke said suddenly feeling uncomfortable with the attention, he looked at Ken and added, 'please send my regards to your cousin and, like I said, I hope to see you soon.'

'You will,' Ken promised.

'Where are we going?' Hiroshi asked Ryosuke.

'Akagi,' was all the future doctor replied.

An instant later, the FC and the AW11 drove out of the Momiji Line pass, leaving Ken's JZA70 behind.

The following weekend a well-rested Ryosuke arrived at the location of the fourth round of the Fuji Freshman Series. The Tsukuba circuit's layout was fairly simple but with its four parabolic corners, one of which massive, and the two long straights, it provided plenty of spots in which one could overtake and be overtaken. This was good news for the public because it allowed them to see a very exciting race, however, for the racers it meant the race was a high tension one from the get go all the way to the finish line.

Ryosuke remembered all too well what had happened to Sudo only a few days ago and he knew that if he wasn't careful, he too could end up being pushed out of the way and onto a wall of tyres.

'We're all set,' Shuichi announced closing his tool box for effect.

'Okay,' the future doctor said.

'Are you alright?' Hiroshi asked him.

'Never better,' Ryosuke replied.

'Good,' Hiroshi said, 'because I've seen Kikushi earlier and he looks like he's ready to kick some ass.'

Both Ryosuke and Shuichi gave him a funny look.

'What?' Hiroshi said defensively, 'your brother taught me that phrase,' he added looking at Ryosuke.

Ryosuke shook his head and, placing his hand on top of the older man, he said:

'No offence but, that kind of gangster speech does not suit you at all.'

'Oh, okay then,' Hiroshi said looking a little downcast.

'Let's just get on with this,' Shuichi said clearly taking pity of his friend, 'we've got to get a good place in the qualifying session, I have heard that Tsukuba is Kikuchi's favourite track so he'll probably do very well.'

'Got it,' Ryosuke said.

He then proceeded to finish suiting up and, pulling the fireproof balaclava over his head, he grabbed his helmet and made his way to the FC. Then, following what was quickly becoming a habit, he took the time to put his helmet on to focus. With the protective device secured, he opened the Mazda's door and climbed onto driver's seat proceeding to strap himself.

'Ready?' Shuichi asked him.

'Yes,' was Ryosuke's curt reply.

A few moments later, he drove out of the pitbox, following another of the racers. He saw Yasushi's white and green Nissan Pulsar a couple of cars ahead. The sight made Ryosuke feel anxious for the race director to open the pitlane. Startled by this thought, Ryosuke forced himself to calm down.

By the time the semaphore became green, he was ready.

With the first of the parabolic corners right ahead of him, he had a good visual of the inner sector of the trak, from there, he saw that Yasushi's GTI-R was already clearing the corner number three and was ready to attack the car in front of him to enter the second parabolic ahead of it.

Shuichi wasn't kidding, Ryosuke thought, Yasushi really liked this circuit.

Concentrating once again on his own driving, Ryosuke continued driving at his own pace, making sure he took note of the state of the tarmac and paying extra attention to the way the car behaved.

It was only during the second lap that he started pushing it.

Once again, the FC felt really good and Ryosuke did everything the best possible way. His driving had never been more precise and he was confident he was doing a good job at negotiating the corners and cruising down the straights as fast as he could. After a few laps out, Shuichi's voice broke the radio silence:

'Come back in.'

'Already?' Ryosuke asked.

'Yeah,' the chief mechanic confirmed, 'you've done a great job, as usual.'

'What about Kikuchi?' Ryosuke asked.

'He's ahead,' Shuichi said, 'his times are absurdly good.'

'How much better?' Ryosuke asked.

'He's five seconds ahead everyone else, including you,' Hiroshi supplied.

'You're second though so,' Shuichi added, 'let's be conservative about it, we still have tomorrow.'

'Okay,' Ryosuke finally surrendered.

He ought to feel frustrated but, oddly enough, he wasn't. For some reason, he felt something warm inside. Only once he got back into the pitbox he managed to find the right word to describe the emotion: happiness. He was actually ecstatic to see that his rival was doing much better than him.

'I'm so weird,' he muttered while smiling to himself.

The following day was overcast and the miserable weather lasted all the way to the start of the race when, as Shuichi had accurately predicted, the first drops of water started falling onto the tarmac. This made every team get very anxious but Ryosuke noticed how Yasushi was sitting inside his car looking as cool as ever. Copying him, he too slid onto his seat and calmly started fastening his racing seatbelt.

'I've done all I can for the settings,' he heard Shuichi say through the open window, 'but this rain…'

'It'll be fine,' Ryosuke assured him.

'Okay,' Shuichi replied sounding like he was humouring him.

Rolling the window back up, Ryosuke adjusted his racing gloves and prepared for the start of the race.

At the green light, he gave it all he got to keep up with the Nissan Pulsar ahead but, having to watch out for the other cars behind him, it was not surprising to see that Yasushi still managed to keep his pole position after the first parabolic corner.

Ryosuke refused to give up and for the following ten laps, he did his best to stay glued to the GTI-R.

He was about to start the eleventh lap when he felt an odd vibration coming from the gearbox.

'Dammit,' he said.

'What's wrong?' he heard Shuichi asking him with badly concealed angst.

'I think we're done,' Ryosuke said.

Without elaborating, he started slowing down. He was at the fourth corner when he noticed he could not shift beyond third gear. He then tried lowering to second but, to his profound dismay, the FC's gearbox was stuck in third. Somehow, he did his best to complete the rest of the lap hoping that he could make it to the pitbox. His race was over but at the very least, he would not have to suffer the humiliation of having his car towed to the garage.

'What happened?' Hiroshi asked him immediately after he climbed out of the FC.

'The gearbox is gone,' Ryosuke announced.

'I knew it,' Shuichi said, 'it's my fault, I pushed it too much.'

'What are you talking about?' Ryosuke asked him, 'I was the one driving.'

'Yes, but I shouldn't have…'

'It's not your fault,' Ryosuke insisted, 'come one, don't look so sad.'

'But…'

'Matsumoto,' he insisted, 'it had to happen sooner or later. It's fine, it's not the end of the world.'

Both Shuichi and Hiroshi glanced at each other for a moment then, looking at Ryosuke, Hiroshi said:

'Okay, let's pack up.'

With his main rival out of the race, Yasushi got an impressive victory, destroying the track's previous record by nearly seven seconds. The future doctor was graceful enough to offer his congratulations.

'It wouldn't have been so easy if your car hadn't broken down,' Yasushi had told him then.

Ryosuke however knew better: Yasushi was just being modest.

Like Hiroshi had said, the guy could kick his ass anytime he wanted.

And this made Ryosuke very happy indeed.

On Monday evening, due to the fact that the FC was being thoroughly repaired by Shuichi and his team of mechanics, and no, they did not need his help, thank you very much, Ryosuke was forced to borrow his father's silver Mercedes sedan to go and pick Erika up. The two had planned to visit the planetarium where the programme advertised the presence of a real astronaut from the Japanese Space Agency.

Ryosuke had been looking forward to this date, not only because of the special guest and the fact that Erika had sounded very impressed when he had told her about it but, also, because he was eager to see if he could start taking their friendship beyond the platonic phase.

In spite of what he'd told her at the hippodrome, he found himself more and more attracted to her as they spent more time together and he really thought that, given a chance, they could make a romantic relationship work. He, for one, definitely saw himself having a future with Erika.

If only he managed to persuade her to see things this way.

Not wanting to think about it too much, Ryosuke decided to focus back on the Mercedes:

The car itself wasn't bad, the future doctor tried to assess objectively. However, being automatic made the driving a bit too dull, it didn't help that the car's engine, probably due to the way his father drove the poor thing, seemed to have lost its edge, almost as if it were half asleep.

He tried to bear with it the best way he could and soon enough, he was parked right in front of the Irie residence where he turned off the engine while he waited for his friend. As usual, the girl was perfectly on time and Ryosuke saw her stepping out of her home a minute before seven.

'Hi!' she greeted him.

'Hello,' he said back getting out of the car so he could open the door for her.

'What happened to your car?' she asked pointing at the sedan.

'It's a long story,' he replied smiling at her, 'I'll tell you on the way.'

'Okay,' she agreed returning the smile.

Erika was about to climb into the Mercedes when they both heard someone's voice call her name.

Ryosuke looked up and saw a man in his twenties wearing sporty clothes. The guy seemed to have been running there and, just as the future doctor started wondering who he was, he got the answer:

'Kazuma-kun…' Erika said with a strained sounding voice.

For some bizarre reason, Ryosuke felt like the entire world had just collapsed on top of him.

_To be continued…_


End file.
